Winner of the prestigious WILLA Literary Award

Salt In Our Blood is a personal account from a fisherman's wife—from inside this dangerous yet alluring profession. Crabbing, as an industry, has navigated through many political, economical, and cultural changes in the last 40 years. But the fishing industry remains a closed society. Not many outsiders know what the workday looks like to a commercial fisherman and his family, nor what it takes to actually harvest the bounty of the ocean. Michele, an attorney married for 20 years to a fisherman living in Newport, Oregon, gave herself the task of keeping a journal to record the day-to-day adventurous and dangerous life.

The life of a fisherman's wife is fraught with long absences of loved ones, abundant bounty or empty pots, and the ever present threat of death on a perilous sea. Eder describes the perils and joys of the commercial fishing industry, a risky yet alluring profession which often brings families feast or famine. She explains the big picture of trends in the industry—how quotas are imposed and prices set, the threat of strikes—and how this translates into daily life: she includes details such as recipes for the elaborate meals she prepared and froze for the crew, and her daily financial workbook entries.

Michele's descriptions of life at sea and the unpredictability of the weather and the ocean are eloquent, hard-hitting and eye-opening. Personal tragedy struck Michele's family just before Christmas 2001, when her son Ben and three other men were lost in the wreck of the Nesika, just outside the Yaquina Bay Bar. This book is an offer of healing to her family, her community, and to fishing families everywhere.

Through her grief, Eder finds inspiration in the 1962 quote from John F. Kennedy: "I really don’t know why it is that all of us are so committed to the sea... All of us have, in our veins, the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to watch it, we are going back from whence we came."

Praise

"an engrossing and moving page-turner." — Blue Ink Reviews

"fascinating...hard-hitting and eye-opening." — Story Circle Book Reviews

"best book on fishing I have read in years." — Seafood.com News

About the Author

Born in upstate New York, Michele has practiced law on the Oregon Coast for almost 30 years, represented a wide variety of clients, including commercial fishermen and their associations. Michele serves on the Board of Directors of the North Pacific Research Board, and, as a two-term Presidential appointee, as Commissioner with the U.S. Arctic Research Commission. She has been an active partner in the family Dungeness crab and sablefish business for over twenty years. Michele and her husband make their home in Newport, Oregon, where they raised two sons, Ben and Dylan.

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