A Mouth Full of Salt

What nature gives can as violently be taken away. So, I learned with Reem Gaafar’s debut novel, “A Mouth Full of Salt.” Beginning from the tumultuous shores of The Nile, a remote village in Northern Sudan set in the early 1980s becomes the backdrop of a quickening progression of ill events that leave the people of this novel shaken and surviving amongst instability and personal chaos. Winner of the 2023 Island Prize, “A Mouth Full of Salt” gives testimony to Sudanese women on the brink of change in a world of ingrained religious constructs that confine women and contain them.

There is the drowning of a young boy that immediately thrusts the reader into a plotline of suspense and mystery. I will leave it at that as other events unfold that wrap the plotline in tones of folk and religious superstition, exposing the discriminatory folds of a culture pushing each other out. Locked in generations of secrets, this novel was a quick read for me as I plundered through, hoping to learn who was to truly blame for the village’s downfall. Weaving through multiple female viewpoints, each one tied to the setting of a haunting yet, simultaneously life-giving ancient river, “A Mouth Full of Salt” is a perfect read for the late hours, when everyone else is sleeping.

Reem Gaafar is a writer, physician and filmmaker. “A Mouth Full of Salt” is her debut novel with Invisible Publishing released in April 2025. The novel won the Island Prize as a novel from Africa and the first book by a Sudanese writer to be recognized giving voice to Sudan. Gaafar has appeared in African Arguments, African Feminism, Teakisi, Andariya and 500 Words Magazine. Gaafar lives in Canada.

“A Mouth Full of Salt” is the first novel I have encountered from Invisible Publishing, a publishing house that is nearly two decades old. Home to the Bibliophonic series of music books and the throwback series of CanLit reissues, Invisible Publishing released their first fiction titles in the spring of 2007. Now, Invisible Publishing publishes graphic fiction and nonfiction, pop culture biographies, experimental poetry and prose. Representing underserved voices from the LGBTQ2IA+ communities, Indigenous writers, and writers of colour, “A Mouth Full of Salt” keeps Sudan and the plight of women on the map.

Gaafar created “A Mouth Full of Salt” during covid as an original short story. Setting it aside for months, Gaafar returned to the story and continued to add to it until eventually, after 19 plus drafts, the novel emerged. Gaafar was told a story about a young boy who had died under the care of his grandparents, the root premise of the novel. She forged this storytelling into existence.

Amidst the drowning of a boy, the reader also follows the story of Fatima, a 12-year-old girl who is awaiting the results of her school exams. She is set to be married, but her heart is pulling her beyond the confines of her village with hopes of pursuing future academic studies. The reader also follows the life of Sulafa, the mother of the missing boy. Her only child and anchor to a family who has essentially replaced her bareness with a second wife, Sulafa’s position within the family becomes under peril with the boy’s absence. There is also a third plotline revealed that gives a backstory and understanding of character behaviour and motivation that I will not reveal, but worked nicely to tie loose ends together unexpectedly.

“A Mouth Full of Salt” is a novel for women, giving testimony to the lives of women at an intersection both historically and currently. Exposing historical subordination of women, the novel is relevant today in the present state of women globally. Gaafar has contributed an important story to Canlit and beyond.

Thank you to Reem Gaafar, Invisible Publishing and River Street Writing for the complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review!