Pillars of Salt
SynopsisPlot
Pillars of Salt by Fadia Faqir is a compelling novel that weaves the stories of two women confined in a mental asylum in Jordan. Through their conversations, the novel reveals how patriarchy, colonialism, and societal norms have shaped—and often broken—their lives. Blending folklore, history, and personal memory, Faqir creates a narrative that challenges traditional storytelling and gives voice to the silenced.
Story
About this book
Pillars of Salt is a novel by Jordanian author Fadia Faqir, set in 1940s Jordan. The story centers on two women held in a mental hospital who begin sharing their histories with each other. One is a mother of eight whose husband cast her aside in order to marry a younger woman. Through their exchanges, the novel traces how patriarchal authority and colonial presence have pressed down on their lives, shaping the choices available to them and the consequences they face.
Faqir, who writes in English, draws on folklore, personal memory, and the historical conditions of mid-twentieth-century Jordan to build the narrative. The structure moves between the two women's accounts, layering individual experience over broader social patterns. Rather than following a single linear plot, the novel assembles its picture through converging voices and fragments of oral tradition.
The book addresses questions of gender, power, and silence within a specific time and place. By grounding the story inside the walls of an institution, Faqir narrows the physical space while expanding the scope of what each woman recalls and reveals about the world outside.
