Witch marks

Salt and Skin is the fifth novel by Victorian-based writer Eliza Henry-Jones. Following the death of her husband, Luda moves with her two teenage children, Darcy and Min, from Australia to the remote Scottish islands. Luda, a photographer, is employed by the local council to document the effects of climate change on the islands and to raise funds for related activism. They will live on Seannay, a small tidal island off the main Big Island, in the isolated and ramshackle ‘ghost house’ that bears centuries-old markings on the ceilings, ‘witch marks’ thought to ward off evil.

While photographing cliff erosion during her first weeks on the island, Luda inadvertently captures images of a cliff collapsing and killing a local child. Seeing an opportunity for an immediate reckoning with climate devastation, Luda sends the images to media outlets. This ostracises her from the grieving community. The impact of climate change across diverse landscapes is underscored early in the novel: Min’s memories of waterless dams in Australia, where ‘dried up and strange things emerged from their cracked, curved beds’ contrast with the cliff landslide and viscerally drawn scenes of beached orca whales in the Scottish isles. Henry-Jones, who lives in regional Victoria on a small farm, has spoken about witnessing the impact of climate change in small yet telling ways on her property.