Salt of the Earth: A Mother, A Daughter, A Murder - Softcover

Olsen, Jack

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312959982 ISBN 13: 9780312959982

Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks, 1997

Synopsis

Joe Gere said he died on the afternoon his twelve-year-old daughter Brenda disappeared. It was left to Brenda's mother Elaine to sustain her stricken family, search for her missing child, and pressure the authorities for justice. From the first minutes of the investigation, suspicion fell on Michael Kay Green, a steroid-abusing "Mr. Universe" hopeful, but there was no proof of a crime, leaving police and prosecutors stymied.

Tips and sightings poured in as lawmen and volunteers combed the Cascades forest in the biggest search on Northwest history. Years passed with no sight of the blue-eyed girl or the bright clothes she'd worn on the day she disappeared, but Elaine remained undaunted.

Salt of the Earth is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence and how she healed her family-and herself.

About this title

Review:

The title of this book refers neither to the murderer who destroyed the hard-won tranquillity of a young couple and their three children, nor to the 12-year-old victim, but to the victim's mother. Without subtracting an iota from the uniqueness of her story, Jack Olsen portrays Elaine Gere as one of those heroically strong American women whose lives usually pass unheralded. We follow her indomitable spirit from a childhood in squalor, to marriage and family, to the disappearance of her daughter, through the baffling and enervating aftermath of a high-profile crime, through the years when her devastated husband flounders in alcoholism and turns violent, to the final healing of her broken family. David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars, writes, "Salt of the Earth constitutes a literary achievement of the highest order. It is the complexity of life, its mystery and beauty, its violence and love and terrible strangeness, that Jack Olsen forces us to confront here."

From the Back Cover:

"Pulls you along irresistibly." - The New York Times

"The powerful, absorbing true story of the terror and tragedy that stalks our violent land, and how an ordinary woman triumphed over all of it."--Joseph Wambaugh

Joe Gere said he died on the afternoon his twelve-year-old daughter Brenda disappeared. It was left to Brenda's mother Elaine to sustain her stricken family, search for her missing child, and pressure the authorities for justice. From the first minutes of the investigation, suspicion fell on Michael Kay Green, a steroid-abusing "Mr. Universe" hopeful, but there was no proof of a crime, leaving police and prosecutors stymied.

Tips and sightings poured in as lawmen and volunteers combed the Cascades forest in the biggest search on Northwest history. Years passed with no sight of the blue-eyed girl or the bright clothes she'd worn on the day she disappeared, but Elaine remained undaunted.

Salt of the Earth is the true story of how one woman fought and triumphed over life-shattering violence and how she healed her family-and herself.

"Jack Olsen's particular gift is his ability to illuminate the souls of his characters." -Jonathan Kellerman

"A literary achievement of the highest order...A beautiful book."-David Guterson, author of Snow Falling on Cedars

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Paperbacks
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 0312959982
• ISBN 13: 9780312959982
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 376