Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture by Ellis, Samantha
Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture by Ellis, Samantha

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture

A life-affirming memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our ancestor's music, stories, and recipes....
$49.63 USD
$95.99 USD
$49.63 USD
Please hurry! Only 252 left in stock
Author: Samantha Ellis
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Subtotal: $49.63
Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture by Ellis, Samantha

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture

$95.99 $49.63
Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture by Ellis, Samantha

Always Carry Salt: A Memoir of Preserving Language and Culture

$95.99 $49.63
Author: Samantha Ellis
Format: Hardcover
Language: English
Description
A life-affirming memoir about resilience, language, and the healing power of our ancestor's music, stories, and recipes.

Samantha's mother tongue is dying out. The daughter of Iraqi Jewish refugees, Samantha grew up surrounded by the noisy, vivid, hot sounds of Judeo-Iraqi Arabic. A language that's now on the verge of extinction.

The realization that she won't be able to tell her son he's "living in the days of the aubergines" or "chopping onions on my heart" or reminding him to "always carry salt" opens the floodgates. The questions keep coming. How can she pass on this heritage without passing on the trauma of displacement? Will her son ever love mango pickle?

In her search for answers Samantha encounters demon bowls, the perils of kohl, and the unexpected joys of fusion food. Her journey transports us from the clamour of Noah's Ark to the calm of the British Museum, from the Oxford School of Rare Jewish Languages to the banks of the River Tigris. As Samantha considers what we lose and keep, she also asks what we might need to let go of to preserve our culture and ourselves.

Always Carry Salt is an immersive and moving meditation on the words and traditions that shape us and what we carry forward into future generations.

Author: Samantha Ellis
Publisher: Pegasus Books
Published: 01/06/2026
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 2.15lbs
Size: 9.14h x 6.23w x 2.21d
ISBN: 9798897100286


Review Citation(s):
Publishers Weekly 10/06/2025
Kirkus Reviews 10/15/2025
Library Journal 11/01/2025 pg. 75
Foreword 12/18/2025

About the Author
The daughter of Iraqi-Jewish refugees, Samantha Ellis is the author of How to be a Heroine and Take Courage. Her plays include How to Date a Feminist, Cling to me Like Ivy and Operation Magic Carpet. Her journalism has appeared in the Guardian, theTLS, the Spectator, Literary Review and more. She worked on the first two Paddington films. She lives in London, where Always Carry Salt was published under the title Chopping Onions on My Heart.
Shipping & Return

Returns Policy

You may return most new, unopened items within 30 days of delivery for a full refund. We'll also pay the return shipping costs if the return is a result of our error (you received an incorrect or defective item, etc.).

You should expect to receive your refund within four weeks of giving your package to the return shipper, however, in many cases you will receive a refund more quickly. This time period includes the transit time for us to receive your return from the shipper (5 to 10 business days), the time it takes us to process your return once we receive it (3 to 5 business days), and the time it takes your bank to process our refund request (5 to 10 business days).

If you need to return an item, simply login to your account, view the order using the "Complete Orders" link under the My Account menu and click the Return Item(s) button. We'll notify you via e-mail of your refund once we've received and processed the returned item.

Shipping

We can ship to virtually any address in the world. Note that there are restrictions on some products, and some products cannot be shipped to international destinations.

When you place an order, we will estimate shipping and delivery dates for you based on the availability of your items and the shipping options you choose. Depending on the shipping provider you choose, shipping date estimates may appear on the shipping quotes page.

Please also note that the shipping rates for many items we sell are weight-based. The weight of any such item can be found on its detail page. To reflect the policies of the shipping companies we use, all weights will be rounded up to the next full pound.

Review