Thank you so much for the opportunity to read this book. Unfortunately it’s not for me. Did not finish @ 16%.

I was apprehensive about this book but I didn't need to be. Sure, it's a very dark story but I read if from my perspective as the older sister and I know I would have been just as protective as Sal. Maybe not to murder but hey, if needs must I guess. Thank you for approving me for this title.

Sorry. I requested this twice because I'm far too keen.

Sal by Mick Kitson is the story of Sal and her little sister Pippa and their need to survive that doesn't involve sexual assault or a drunk mother that doesn't mother. Sal is a strong character, the subject is a hard read, but since Sal and Pippa are so lovable and resilient through their travels you can stomach their traumas.

Mick Kitson has written a beautiful book of determination, survival, promise, and hope. This book is worth every second I spent reading it. By the way, I couldn't put it down which means my home went into disarray while I ignored everything that was going on around me. Yes, Sal is that good!

I apologize, but this book no longer interests me. Originally, I was drawn to the Scottish background of the book, but now it's been sometime and unfortunately I've lost interest. I don't believe it benefits the publisher or the author if I skim through the book and post a halfhearted review. I am sorry for the inconvenience.

Another underrated gem of a book! First of all, that cover 😍 it is stunning! Then Mick Kitson’s SAL drew me in right away with the beautiful description of the Scottish highlands, but the plot kept me reading. This book is described as a story of survival as two young girls, Sal and her sister Peppa, run away from their abusive life into the wilderness, but I think it is much more than that. It’s about Sal learning to trust again, and finding that there are good people in the world. This novel was incredibly touching.
Bottom line: read it if you like survival stories, coming of age books, and Scotland!

Thank you NetGalley and publishers for providing a copy to this novel to review. This novel is a heartbreaking and powerful story of wilderness survival narrated by a child protagonist. Why Sal left her home with her younger sister in tow is disturbing, but her fierce determination to craft a plan that will save both of them is ultimately uplifting. The author hits all the right notes with this narrator, drawing her as strong, smart, and resilient, but including enough vulnerability and softness to make her believable. I also fell in love with Ingrid (who comes into the storyline in a way that may give away to much) and her story. This is a good read...but I found the end disappointing on a personal level, yet realized that it was likely the only logical conclusion.

Sal acted more mature than 13-years-old. She definitely acted more mature than her mother who chose the bottle over her own children. Fearful of what the future held for her sister Peppa, Sal took matters into her own hands as she felt there was no other way. Her love for Peppa was her driving force.

I loved how much Sal loved her sister and what she did to protect her. Sal felt that she knew what Robert’s intentions were going to be towards her sister and she was being proactive in protecting her. I had a great fondness for Sal as I read the story. As she explained things to Peppa, she reasoned with her, she didn’t get emotional or talk down to her, she wanted her to understand. Sal doesn’t get frustrated and upset when their lives are meet with difficulty, Sal keeps her head on and fights back. I wonder how Sal felt internally when Peppa kept asking about their mother. The mother who allowed her children to be beaten, the mother who was beaten up herself by the same man who beat her children, that same man who visited Sal’s room at night when he thought no one was watching.

When Ingrid entered the novel, I was relieved. Not like a tradition woman, Ingrid was a product of the environment that she grew up in. She was truly a spirited woman and I enjoyed listening to the stories of her life and felt that she led an interesting life. I think it was a mutual blessing that they had found each other as they each enhanced each other’s lives.

When Maw appears on the scene, I was apprehensive about her appearance. Peppa was overjoyed but what I saw first, was that perhaps having Maw back would be more work for Sal. Maw felt like a wild card to me.

It wasn’t a tied-up ending but that ok. The ending I was hoping for isn’t going to transpire so leaving it open is just as well. I’m still apprehensive about their future, but time will tell what will happen. I hope that being with Ingrid, Sal has internalized a bit of her and kept it with her. Ingrid had a lot to give and I was glad that she met someone who appreciated her.

I received a copy of this novel from NetGalley and Canongate Books US in exchange for an honest review.

I am not quite sure how to write about this book. On the one hand, it kept me reading to the end, and I really did care about these characters. But it also felt very messy. Sal's discussions of the survival skills and how she learned them from YouTube were my favorite parts of the book, even though I have to admit, on reflection, that the voice did not completely ring true for a 13 year old. Also the book spent a long, long time relating Ingrid's history as heard by Sal, and the third-person nature of that made the telling strange and awkward. I don't think the patrons in my library would go for this book.

Sal is the main character in this book : a story of abuse, survival and the love of two sisters.
Sal and Peppa's mum is an alcoholic with a knack of finding unsuitable boyfriends, Robert is a drunk, a drug addict and a child abuser. He abuses 13 year old Sal, and when he threatens to do the same to do the same to 10 year old Peppa, Sal decides to act and save them. She learns all she can of wild camping, survival techniques from the SAS and anything else she can pick up from the internet. She finds a remote place where they can set up camp and live away from Social Services and the 'Polis'
There is a lot of description of their surroundings in the mountains and the Loch that they live near, which I really liked. The elderly East German doctor that they meet is also a nice touch.
It hadn't actually occurred to me that this was a Young Adult book: I enjoyed it and I'm certainly not a young adult (in body, anyway!).
The novel didn't have the ending that I would have expected, but it was a good ending and very appropriate.
All in all, a very good story.
Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for my copy of the book.

Wow, what an absolutely stunning novel! I was not expecting such a gripping and unique novel, and my mind is still reeling with all the impressions. The story was sad on so many levels, but also full of hope and beauty. Though I must admit it was quite strenuous to read a whole book in Sal's language, what with the vocabulary and her strange way of talking (at least to me - challenging books like these reveal it's not my native language). But then again, Sal's voice made the whole story much more intense.

While I was a bit disappointed with the ending, I know that hoping their way of life would never end was wishful thinking and couldn't possibly last forever. I am glad I delved into the book unprepared and with only a hint of knowledge about what would await between its covers. That way, the book was able to completely overwhelm and surprise me. My advice: go grab this book and read it! Now!

This book manages the considerable feat of being both a well drawn character piece and a page turner. The protagonist is complex and engaging, and the narrative voice is utterly convincing.

Wilderness survival stories are really compelling, particularly for a lifelong city dweller. And so having recently read a book and seen a movie on the subject, this one was an easy choice. Though I didn’t expect it to be quite so good. Child protagonists can be difficult to get right, but Kitson does it with flying colors. Sal and her sister Peppa are as authentic, realistic, smart, able and engaging as you can possibly wish literary characters to be. It is precisely those qualities that enable them to flee a terrible repercussion of an abusive situation and set up a base camp in Scottish woods. The situation that can’t be sustained, but is surprisingly viable for the duration. Even if you’re not into survival stories, this book will draw you in, it simply has too much to offer, from terrific characters to vividly detailed surroundings and some heavy duty emotional drama. And yet the author never takes the latter as a permission to get overly sentimental, the narrative stays as tough as Sal, which is formidable indeed. I loved the writing, thought it suited the story perfectly, very simple economic sentence structure, conveys all it must, nothing extraneous. And it manages to convey sadness without veering into depressing territory. Pretty much a one sitting read, completely immersive and enjoyable. Lovely find. Enthusiastically recommended. Thanks Netgalley.

Sal by Mick Kitson

Disturbing story of two sisters who flee a dysfunctional home to survive in the forest…

I am not sure who the target audience is for this book. If it is for the young adult crowd then I might suggest it be used as a book to be read in class or with parents. Why? The content includes violence, rape, murder and a decision made by a thirteen year old that should be discussed rather than just read and glossed over. If, on the other hand, this book is geared to adults then I would have to say that the rambling all-inclusive diary-like narrative is not one that I was able to relate well to.

The story is complex, plotted well and told in a way that the reader becomes part of the story hoping that all will go well…eventually…and Sal and her sister Peppa will find a bit of peace and happiness. There is information about preparation, survival and fears but I am not sure if Sal, after so many years of being in charge and dealing with all that she did has “turned off” and seemed colder than she should have been or if she is just very realistic and practical. There was another quibble and that was the ending. I felt the time surviving was intense and descriptive and involved and then boom…the end comes but there is no real resolution for any of the characters.

This may have triggers for some: sexual abuse, pedophilia, addiction, alcoholism, murder…

Thank you to NetGalley and Canongate for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

A beautiful book despite its tough subject matter. The sisters, Sal and Peppa, are adorable and charming. Sal, the oldest, has been taking care of her younger sisters for years as her mom drinks the days away. Her mother's boyfriend uses the mother's addiction to his advantage and sexual assaults Sal numerous times. Despite this Sal is tough and getting prepared cause the boyfriend has made it known Peppa is next. With Sal resourcefulness the girls will flee to the woods and start a life of self-sufficiency.

I have mixed feeling about this book. There were parts I enjoyed very much, especially the beginning. The author made an effort to set up the atmosphere: the description of Galloway Forest, a few Scottish words (which I knew from Diana Gabaldon's series, by the way), examples from SAS Survival Guide Sal read in preparation for the great escape. And the two sisters, Sal and Peppa, do escape and survive (you could say even thrive) in the forest, despite the cold weather and their lack of experience, food and shelter.
The story of their life in the wild is woven with the story of their life before, when their alcoholic mother let Sal take care of everyone and everything and did nothing to stop her partner, Robert, from abusing her. Killing Robert is somehow justifiable, but trying to make excuses for their mother's neglect and rescuing her from rehab, then forcing her to act as a responsible adult, lacks credibility. In the end, Sal is the responsible one, when she accepts to go back to civilization and face her punishment. So, the lesson is clear, the kids are less screwed up than their parents.
There's a third narrative thread, Ingrid's story, the defected East-German doctor/ex-hippy/ hermit who treats Peppa's infected pike bite. Her story glides over too many decades and too many historical events, in striking contrast with the carefulness and precision the book is set up at the beginning.

Sal has decided to take matters into her own hands. She's planned everything meticulously, and gathered knowledge and equipment over many months. Then she killed her mother's abusive boyfriend and ran away to the woods with her sister.

Determined not to let anything split them up, Sal deploys remarkable survival skills and a resourcefulness that belies her tender years to start a new life with Peppa in the rugged landscape of Scotland's Galloway Forest Park. She's learned all about building a shelter, starting a fire, hunting, fishing and countless other things from YouTube videos and her trusty SAS Survival Handbook. Now the girls just need to bide their time while their alcoholic mother goes through rehab, then they'll fetch her and all live together in this silent wilderness.

But before they can carry out their scheme, they meet their "neighbour" Ingrid, a reclusive immunologist who lives in a rustic camp a few miles away and must deal with wounds of her own. She teaches them about baking bread in a stone oven, making bowls out of birch bark, communing with the Goddess and the importance of forgiveness. This encounter will have a profound effect on all their lives.

Switching between present circumstances and past events, Sal tells us her story in a very matter-of-fact way. She's extremely bright, despite being placed in a vulnerable learners programme at school owing to her severe dyslexia and unsatisfactory social skills, so it's fascinating to see "from the inside" how she deals with hurdles that would defeat many so-called well-adjusted adults. The subtlety with which nature as a source of healing was treated is another highlight.

Since I've always enjoyed fiction where people must cope with fulfilling their essential needs in strained circumstances, "Sal" was right up my trail, as it were. In that regard, if I may offer a vegan's perspective on the measures Sal must take in order to feed herself and Peppa, I appreciate that the author didn't shy away from the realities of taking an animal's life, but also didn't try to ennoble the act, for example by having Sal thank the animal for its sacrifice or "honouring its spirit" in some way.

I found this novel extremely compelling and moving. All of the characters felt completely believable, and I thought it offered an excellent portrayal of girls' and women's strength. I couldn't recommend this book highly enough!

I absolute loved this. I really couldn't put it down, and I thought all of the characters were so original and complex and realistic. The descriptions of their survival in the wilderness were so interesting and the fierce love that Sal had for her little sister was so sweet. I thought the narrative style was spot-on and overall I just really enjoyed it.

Two sisters. 13 and 10 surviving on grit, determination, and UTUBE videos. A good survival story but tended to plod in places and the flash back scenes were more of a distraction than a help. Just me

Powerful story. It's so scary to think of two kids out on their own, but I guess too many children that young are on their own in the world. sad. Sal and Peppa have a really rough home life. Their mom's a drunk and drug addict and her live-in boyfriend molests Sal and is threatening to molest Peppa. so Sal plots for the two girls to run away and learns all about survival and living off the land to protect her. It's a little rough to read with the slang (Scots) and language, but can be managed. I think teens and up will appreciate the story.

When I finished this book last night, having read it in one day, I had no idea how to rate it and I really didn’t know what to say about it. I woke up thinking about these characters which for me personally is a sign that I have read something profound or at the very least thought provoking. This was an easy read from the language perspective, the matter of fact words of a thirteen year old girl, but it was at the same time disturbing, heartbreaking, and beautiful in the rendering of the love between two sisters.

Sal has been in survival mode for the last three years, enduring what no child ever should. If she tells anyone what’s happening, there’s a good chance that she and her ten year old sister Peppa will be separated. Her alcoholic mother is passed out often enough to be oblivious to what her alcoholic, drug addicted boyfriend is doing. But then survival mode takes on a much more literal meaning as Sal takes justice into her own hands and they run away to a forest somewhere in Scotland. Sal is on a mission to save Peppa from the same things she was forced to endure. I had that hard to describe feeling, a knot in my stomach from the beginning as Sal talks about how she sets aside her worrying time so she can focus on the survival skills she has learned on YouTube and the famous survival manual - building a fire, shooting an air gun, making rabbit snares, managing the basics of food and shelter in the woods and most of all caring for Peppa. I can’t say I liked reading about their time in the wild . I’m not much of a camper at all so I found none of the details interesting but I was so affected by these sisters. The seriousness of Sal was balanced by the bit of comic relief that Peppa provides with her desire to laugh, her off color language, surprising to come from a ten year old but she stole my heart as did Sal who cares for her.

Another character, Ingrid, a retired doctor who lives a secluded life in the woods befriends the girls, helps care for them and I thought played a role in getting them to move forward to a place where there could be a possibility for a different life. The ending was not what I expected given all that happened, but I finished the book hoping for the best for Sal and Peppa. It’s sad and thought provoking and impacted me enough to up my initial rating to 4 stars.

I received an advanced copy of this book from Canongate through NetGalley.