Thirst for Salt

A heady story about a life-changing summer romance, perfect for fans of A Theatre for Dreamers and Sorrow & Bliss

'A love affair so richly and attentively imagined it carries the grace and gravity of memory itself.' Leslie Jamison

Our narrator is twenty-four years old when she and her mother arrive in the tiny coastal town of Sailors Beach. Their holiday, she hopes, will be a pause between her life as a student and whatever happens next. Summer stretches before her: unplanned, full of possibility. And into this space walks Jude. Finding herself pulled to this man twenty years her senior she begins losing herself in the simple, seductive rhythms of his everyday life.

Thirteen years later, she happens across a photo of Jude with a child. A photo that leaves her questioning choices she has made for herself. A photo that brings back memories of a summer that changed her forever.

A magnetic story of the complexities of desire, and a powerful reckoning with memory, loss and longing, Madelaine Lucas' debut novel reveals, with stunning, sensual immediacy the way the past can hold us in its thrall, shaping who we are and what we love. 

'A mesmerizing portrait of a romance with graceful, seductive writing.' Bustle

A Bustle, LitHub, Debutiful, and NYLON Most Anticipated Book of 2023

A Goodreads Buzziest Book of the New Year * A DEBUTIFUL 'Best Book of 2023 Jan-June'