I took way too long to get around to reading this book, but I'm glad I did. Many thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for a review copy.

Sal tells the story of two sisters, one a teenager, the other ten years old. Sal, the older sister, has seen and dealt with things that no child should have to experience, but they are things that, sadly, so many children do. Sal is resourceful and bright; she planned her escape from their abusive stepfather and alcoholic mother for months.

Has anyone ever spent any time on Scottish Twitter? If not, I recommend taking a look. It's hilarious. Sal is, in it's own way, hilarious too. Although it is dark, Sal and Peppa are bright, young girls, who are able to laugh their way through the darkness as perhaps only children can. But this does not detract from the seriousness of the book. Kitson deals with child abuse, poverty, and neglect in a way that gets under your skin. You fall in love with Sal, her matter-of-fact attitude and maturity beyond her years, and with Peppa, with her infallible lightness.

Nothing in this book is gratuitous. It is told in such a simple way, through Sal's unique voice. It is an important story, and a gripping one.

This was such a good book, really enjoyed the survival side of it and just the relationships between the characters. It does have some subjects that some might find hard to read but overall this was a really interesting, thought provoking book.

Fast paced espionage/detective thriller set in Brexit era. Enough twists and turns to keep you engaged and well developed characters to empathise with. A behind the scenes peep at the MI6 institution without getting technical. A modern day James Bond character, Sol finds himself in a precarious position in the Middle East with a high value prisoner who he has been asked to release.. Unfortunately,, he is shot and Sol is implicated. However Sol has learned from him that there is a mole at the top level of MI6. On his return to London he is placed on a form of gardening leave, during which time he is approached by a former colleague to help fathom who is the mole. Lots of twists and turns have you speculating until the end. A really good read against a relevant backdrop

What a starkly beautiful book. It tells the story of Sal and Peppa, two young sisters who flee an abusive household and try to survive in the Scottish Highlands. The depictions of the landscape and the natural world are gorgeous and really add to the narrative. I loved the voice of Sal, our protagonist and thought that the author did a fantastic job of giving her an original voice that was well maintained throughout the book. This is a book of real light and shade. The life the girls have left is awful and although we are only shown brief glimpses of past events, it is enough to drive home the horror. Contrast this with some of the 'angelic' souls the sisters come into contact with, both before and after leaving home. It does mean that there are occasions in the plot where things follow rather convenient and unbelievable paths, but the strength of the voice of Sal was enough to put these little niggles to one side. A very good, if sometimes harrowing read.
I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

As a YA book this is a sensitive portrayal of an abused young girl living with an alcoholic mother and her younger sister who decides to take matters into her own hands to ensure her sisters safety. Armed with survivalist skills earned from youtube, a Bear Grylls knife and pure determination she sets out with her sister into the Scottish highlands as Winter is setting in. Sal has a wonderful voice, really matter of fact, resilient and loyal. She has clearly been failed by society, but still believes that people are inherently good and her courage and hope shine through what is quite a bleak book.

Thanks go to the publishers and net galley for the advanced copy in return for an honest review.

One word review: Understated

Rambling review: I started this during my lunch break at work and I’d finished it before dinner time. Such. A. Little. Gem!

The most memorable aspect of this book, unsurprisingly, is Sal. She is our narrator and she has a very distinctive voice. She is emotionally detached and very factual, which makes it very chilling and highly readable. It shows how she is able to survive her trauma, which parallels with how she is able to survive the wilderness.

In some ways, her choice of age is perfect. Her instinct to run away and live in the woods is something only a 13 year old would (and could) do. In other ways, her capacity for survival, thirst for knowledge, near perfect memory, is wise beyond her years.

Whilst I genuinely adored reading Sal, there were a couple aspects of the novel which bothered me.

The jovial one first: men shouldn’t write about periods. I literally chuckled out loud. A “rumbling in [her] tummy”?! It isn’t a seismic shift in your lining, the first time you bleed. I appreciate that everyone is different, but there also isn’t that much blood the first time – certainly not enough to be “warm and drippy” and “ooze down [her] legs”? If you’re going to use a visceral verb, a bubbling sensation is probably the most accurate.

The structural one: the hot wiring of the car felt too neat a plot device. And what were the chances, given they travelled quite far from home, that the rehab centre would be so close? All packaged up with a bow.

The tricky one: the abuse… It felt a little over simplified to me. Writing about child trauma, especially child sexual abuse, is exceptionally complex. The manipulation involved, how the abuse begins, the mental strain on the child, the complicated feelings of the victim towards the abuser. It perhaps doesn’t help that I read Home and My Absolute Darling relatively recently. These are three very different cases of abuse, three very different narrative styles, and three very different stories. But I think they captured their abuse in a more holistic way – in Sal’s case, he forced her to perform oral sex whilst her mother was unconscious, and she did in order to protect her sister.

Or are we simply perceiving the abuse through Sal’s eyes? As already stated, she is emotionally detached and processes the world around her as a series of facts. Are we seeing a simplified form of abuse as this is how Sal, being as Sal is, saw it? This quote perfectly sums up Sal: “He said I kept talking about what happened and not how I felt about what happened and I said it was the same thing”.

This novel is a gem, though – it has the quiet beauty of Scotland and a narrator you’d adhere to in a heartbeat.

P.S. Excellent cover, truly excellent.

Star rating: Five stars

From the school library to a plan to run. This book will keep you on the edge of your seat, with a protective and inspiring voice of an inspirational protagonist. The change of plot and wonderful setting make this novel an excellence choice for an young or adult reader. Well recommended.

⭐️⭐️⭐️ 3 Stars

This was a book of two halves. I thought the start was slow and it took me a while to get going. I think partly due to the overly descriptive nature is the survival stuff.

I found myself hurrying to get to the flashback sections that explained what led to Sal and Peppa running away as these were more engaging that all the survival writing.

It is a tad implausible and when Ingrid came into I was worried it was a stretch of reality too far however I have to say that her introduction was a turning point In the book for me; I loved her story and I couldn’t wait to finish the book.

Enjoyable and I would like to read more by the author.

13 year old Sal and her 10 year old sister Peppa are on the run. They've had to escape a brutal past and an even more brutal end to the past. But Sal is prepared - she has all the kit for survival in the Scottish wilderness. Her backpack is filled with maps, waterproof clothing, food, penknife, fishing gear and the SAS Survival Handbook. She's watched enough YouTube survival videos to become the next Bear Grylls. But life in the woods in October is tough - it's cold and snowing. How long can they hide out before someone finds them?

When I started to read this, I wasn't sure I was going to like it, even though I loved the premise of the story. The detail of their first few days in the forest was slight overkill for me. Many of the descriptions seemed almost like word-for-word transcript out of a manual, and I skipped most of those parts. For me, it started to get interesting when Ingrid's character was introduced (even though it was a rather unbelievable coincidence that someone else was hiding out in the same forest). I loved their relationship, and the story just seemed to quickly build from there. I loved the banter between the sisters, and how Sal kept trying so hard to keep Peppa's spirits up, while trying at the same time to keep them both alive. Through her abusive past, Sal has had to quickly grow up, and she is a believable strong mother figure to her sister.

A marvelous debut novel.

Sal is about two young sisters who run away to live in rural Scotland. Sal is thirteen and her sister, Peppa, is ten. Sal has accumulated plenty survival equipment, like her Bear Grylls knife, waterproofs and a first aid kit. She's armed with the SAS Survival Handbook and the extraordinary catalogue of survival skills she's learnt from watching YouTube videos and survival programmes.

Sal is an original and unique story about sisterly love, the kindness of strangers and the harsh realities of life. As Sal and her sister are surviving in the Galloway Forest, we gradually learn about their background and how they came to be in their situation and what made Sal so desperate that the only possibility she saw was surviving in the wilderness. There is a history of neglect and abuse for nearly all of the characters in this story and the truth about it all slowly comes to light.

The story was told from the first person perspective of Sal and her voice was clear and distinctive. The writing style was very simple but it was appropriate and made you feel like you were really in Sal's mind. Sal was a special character, fierce and determined despite being so damaged.

What I loved about this story the most was that Sal was well and truly the heroine of her own story. Not only that but she was also the heroine of all the people around her as well and this was powerful yet authentic. I really loved how Sal told the story in a way that was so clear to her. Things were often so simple in her mind, yet as an outsider looking in, you could see the wider complexities and implications. 

There were laugh out loud moments in this book as well as moments that were tough to read and heart-wrenching. The relationship between Sal and her sister Peppa was at the heart of this story and the love and protection Sal feels for Peppa outweighs everything else in this story. 

This story was about the harshest aspects of life and the torment and traumatic events people go through and how this impacts throughout their whole life; as well as the implications it has for the next generation. Through all of this though, it was also about the things that matter in life and the way the smallest triumphs have to make it all worth it.

After finishing this book, I had a melancholic feeling because it makes you think about the unspeakable things some people go through and how it isn't fair. It makes you think about people who never experience feelings of love, care and safety and how this affects them. I loved how this book made me think and I loved that it showed a character coming from the harshest of backgrounds and neglect, to come out so strong and loving despite what the world dealt her. 

As a Scot, another thing I loved about this book was the setting. The beautiful and untouched natural setting and all of the wildlife that came with it. It really portrayed the beauty of Scotland in all its forms. On top of that, the dialogue and the frequent use of Scots words was also really authentic and not something you often see represented in literature.

I definitely recommend this book to all.

'Sal' is a magical story; a love letter to nature, survival and sisterly love.

The main character of Sal is well-written and well-researched, and the text is packed full of information about surviving in the woods - without the information seeming shoehorned in; the detail really adds to the experience.

It's a bit like a modern 'My Side of the Mountain' and would be perfect for teenage girls and boys from age 13 upwards who are interested in the outdoors and love a good story.

“Sal” is set to be one of the most daring and brave novels to hit the shelves in 2018. It’s an honest and raw telling of two girls who have run away into the forest of rural Scotland. Sal’s intelligent and witty voice is thrust upon the reader immediately as it quickly becomes clear why they have run away and just how well planned out this trip has been, this is no mistake. It’s Sal leading the way in this novel and her incredible precision, which is masterfully orchestrated throughout the novel. It makes the moments of vulnerability all the more striking as Sal is only a teenager, as the novel moves on, the cracks in the story seep through which only make the reader more endeared towards the pair.


This is a novel about survival in every sense of the word and brutally poignant and draws close to relationships of family and women sticking together. It’s the openness of the landscape and dialogue that keep this book breathing until the very end.

A really interesting read, with fascinating characters

I had to stop reading this book. I found it disturbing and upsetting! Was it written just to shock? I feel it was.

"Most of the stuff I know, I know from Wikipedia and websites about things I am interested in, and also from YouTube videos and from TV. At school I was in a special unit for vulnerable learners where I could be online most of the day and I had to talk to Mrs Finlayson about my feelings. I know a lot about survival, making fires and shelters, snaring food, making bird traps, filtering water, reading tracks and watching the weather. …. . I know about trees and quite a lot of plants, especially if they are plants you can eat ….. I also know about cooking and food hygiene and quite a lot about health and common ailments and alcoholism which is a disease. I know how to nick stuff and how to read timetables and how to set up email accounts which you need if you are buying stuff on Amazon with dodgy cards. ……. … I can shoot with an airgun and cast a fishing rod… I can read a map, do grid references, plot a course with a compass and work out elevations and gradients. I have killed one person, quite a lot of fish and, so far, two rabbits."

Sal is a debut novel, with an interesting genesis. Its author Mick Kitson, a Scottish schoolteacher had always been frustrated at the books he taught in English literature class and had a pipe-dream of writing the type of book he would like to teach. The death of his father and the realisation of his own mortality prompted him to realise that ambition while he still could. The book was picked by the Observer as one of the debut novels to watch out for in 2018, the same feature in 2017 having picked 3 of the 4 novels which made the recent Shortlist for the Costa First Novel award.

The set up of the book is simple, yet very unusual. Salmarina (Sal) aged 13 and her mixed race half-sister Paula (Peppa) aged 10 have left the home where they live with their alcoholic mother and sexually abusive partner and made their way to a remote forested area in Southeast Scotland where they will make use of survival skills they have learnt from watching YouTube videos of people like Bear Grylls and Ray Mears, and some carefully assembled supplies. Very early on in the book Sal's first person narration reveals that she murdered her mother's partner and both the murder and escape were long premeditated to prevent him carrying out his threat to transfer his abuse to the growing Paula.

Sal is a fascinating character, partly with her obsession with facts and figures reminiscent of a certain type of young autistic narrator which is becoming a common literary figure, but completely unique given her huge levels of physical proficiency and thoughtful resourcefulness.

"One [report from the vulnerable unit learning unit] said I was above average intelligence but suffering from severe dyslexia and an inability to recognise phoneme clusters and patterns. The other said I was of high intelligence and had an advanced reading age but suffered from severe cognitive impairment when it came to writing and remembering the spelling of words ...... I also got put in the unit because I never smiled, and stared at people, and other kids called me weird and they were worried I’d get bullied in the main school which was big and had about 2,500 kids in it. The report said I was ‘withdrawn, appeared socially isolated and seemed reluctant to form new friendships’. Which was true. I was like that. I still am"

Her younger sister sister is exuberant, sassy and foul mouthed, but equally striking - and the banter between them, despite everything they are going through, is deeply endearing.

The third character is Ingrid who they eventually camp with after she helps them out when Sal receives an infected wind from a pike bite.

Large chunks of the book are taken up with Ingrid's back history, including her defecition from East Germany and her life as a hippie including the real life Battle Of the Beanfield and with her obsession with a Mother Goddess.

Overall a well conceived book which I can see appealing widely. It takes the popular SAS/survival/wild living trope and transfers it from posh upper class, English men to two Scottish young girls on the bottom of the social ladder. It also manages to create our complete sympathy for a murderer. The book is also a very conscious modern reworking of classic adventure tales (Peppa reads "Kidnapped" during their escape) and I can easily imagine it becoming a school class book (as I believe the author hoped). It was a little less appealing to me as I have never had the slightest interest in the Survival-in-the-wild type books (I had to Google the people mentioned to see who they were) and so found huge chunks of this book better skim-read.

I adored this book! a really good gripping storyline but I fell in love with the characters who were painted so vividly in this text. I was willing Sal and Peppa to succeed in their secret mission and enjoyed feeling the moments with them which were so beautifully depicted. The end was a bit abrupt for me I wanted to know more; was Sal convicted? Was she was sent to a detention center, how did she cope in there, how did her mum cope with sobriety, what happened to Ingrid and her relationship with the girls. I need more !! Can we have a second book please??

I would like to thank NetGalley, Canongate Books, General Fiction (Adult) and Mick Kitson for my ARC of ‘Sal’ in return for my honest review.

This is an amazing book to read. Sal is such a special character and with her sister are escaping an abusive situation. Sal has researched and prepared for this and this is portrayed with compassion and determination.

It is sad, dark, compulsive reading with determination and love. At times it is uplifting especially with the sibling love and care. I really enjoyed the different aspects of the story.

Recommended.

Sal and her sister Peppa flee to the Scottish mountains following a terrible murder committed by Sal.. She has finally killed her alcoholic Maw’s abusive boyfriend Robert. An act she had planned for a long time, and had taught herself survival skills by watching YouTube videos and buying extensive survival kit from Roberts stolen credit cards.

This book is heart-wrenching! It raises many issues; alcoholism, physical and sexual abuse, poverty being but only a few. Sal is a 13 year old girl with guts, strength, determination and fierce love and loyalty for her little sister Peppa, in a similar way to Katniss & Prim in the Hunger Games.

All characters were flawed and imperfect, but this juts made them more real and likeable. Ingrid and her life story was one that I didn’t expect to see but couldn’t get enough of. I powered through this book, desperate to hear more about a take of survival, love and a young girl who will do anything to protect her sibling.

Firstly, I loved reading this book, secondly I am aware that it could be a bit of a marmite book - for the survival purists it is a big leap of faith to accept the premise of the story which is that a 13 year old schoolgirl and her little sister can survive in the wild armed only with some bear grylls outdoor equipment and knowledge gleaned from youtube videos!

But as a Bear Grylls fanatic and would-be wild camper myself, I put aside any preconceptions and just rolled with it and found myself enchanted by the voice of Sal and entranced by the characters she meets especially the wonderful Ingrid.

Sal wants to escape the clutches of her alcoholic Mums abusive boyfriend Robert before he turns his attentions to her beloved little sister Pepper. So it follows that she needs to plan this very carefully using any means at her disposal which are mainly a thirst for knowledge and a canny nature.

For a whole year she endures the drunken violence whilst devouring youtube survival videos and binge watching every Bear Grylls episode she can find whilst plotting to escape. Using her stash of stolen credit cards she hoards Amazon and ebay purchases of outdoor all weather equipment and tools whilst planning and plotting their escape. Until she reaches breaking point and murders the brutish Robert and takes for the wilderness with her rucksack weighted down with Belvita biscuits and Dundee cake.

Into the forest they go and Sal proves to be a capable survivor, with guts and a rough at the edges love for her sibling, coupled with a rare vocabulary of swear words and the innate ability to be able to work out “What Bear Grylls would do” in any given situation. Her rough little voice struck a chord and I loved this kid.

It's delightful and captivating and oh so enjoyable, especially to the kind of reader who dreams of walking out of the door one day and taking up residence in an abandoned shack somewhere remote.
It reminded me of “The Outlander” by Gil Adamson. which is one of my all time favourite books and I am positive it will be a huge hit.

I genuinely felt bereft when I finished it, it’s one of those books where I really envy everyone who hasn’t read it yet because you’ve got it all ahead to enjoy. Pure reading delight.

Told in the narrative of 13 year old Sal, it was certainly an interesting plot. Although there were not many characters in this book, they were well written with lots of background to them. I felt the writing style seemed a bit clunky yet it seemed suited to the voice of a 13 year old.

Enjoyed it but it didn't wow me - 3 stars.