Sal

'The girls’ capability, humanity and humour are inspiring and wonderful. Sal is an ambitious and skilled novel. Literature needs more stories like this.' - The Guardian

First Book Winner of the Saltire Literary Awards 2018, Fife-based teacher Mick Kitson’s Sal reels in an electrifying story of selfless care and survival in the Scottish wilderness.

Sal is 13 years old; her sister Peppa is just 10. Sal’s young life has been torn apart by the actions of her mother’s predatory, drunken boyfriend and she cannot allow Peppa to befall the same fate. Armed with knowledge gleaned from YouTube videos and Wikipedia, Sal is forced to stretch her resourcefulness to the limit, fleeing with her sister into the depths of the Galloway forest to escape her pursuers.

Adeptly capturing the young voice of its leads and their tough but sometimes rapturous new freedom, Sal arrives as something of a classic and marks a bold entry for newcomer Kitson.