Our Cut of Salt, by Deena Helm
15 Sept 2026The Book
Synopsis:
There is something haunting Nuhad’s childhood home in Haifa. Cats avoid its perimeter, strange noises come from within, and residents have mysteriously vanished without a trace. Although Nuhad has not returned to her home since the Nakba in 1948, she always held a place for the house in her heart.
And, in return, the house did the same for her.After Nuhad passes away, her granddaughter, Marina, is determined to visit her grandmother’s home after a lifetime of being kept in the dark about her culture and family history. Marina’s mother, Haifa – named for the city that was lost to their family – reluctantly agrees to her trip, though she knows firsthand that some secrets are better left buried.
But the house is no longer a home. It is a painful, festering wound that infects everything it touches. The more Marina digs into her family’s past, the sicker she becomes. Despite Nuhad’s ghostly warnings, Haifa rushes to help her daughter.
As the three women converge in their ancestral home, they must put the haunting to rest before the secrets of the past drown them all.
My Review
Our Cut of Salt is a powerful debut, a historical-inspired Palestinian Gothic Horror that couldn't be released at a better time, as Deena Helm manages to capture a reality that has been ongoing for almost a century, and that has only worsened since October 2023; a novel composed of grief and horror, and narrates through the eyes of three generations the ongoing genocide on Palestine with a dash of a haunted house.
After Nuhad passes away, her granddaughter Marina has a great desire to go back to her grandmother's childhood house, to learn more about the past of her family and understand more about Nuhad; despite the best reservations of Haifa, her mother, she ends up travelling to Palestine. However, soon and with the help of Nuhad's childhood friend, Raina, she learns about how the house doesn't feel like a house anymore, how it has been haunted since the night Nuhad's family was forced to abandon it during the Nakba; a haunting that incarnates the pain and the grief inflicted by the occupation, and whose consequences can be seen with Marina's eyes.
The use of the haunted house trope as a metaphor to describe the horrors associated with occupation and genocide is on top of the symbolism that makes this such a memorable book; there's nothing supernatural in the haunting, but the consequences of how the Israeli forces have been perpetrating a genocide from the very own moment the two states solution was enacted. It also deserves a mention how salt is associated with cleansing and healing, but also with mourning and the land; an apparent contradiction that shows the cycle that connects grief, memory, and people.
I understand that for some people this might feel like an unsubtle book, as Helm puts much emphasis on reflecting the reality that is still ongoing in Palestine, a genocide that started many years ago and that has only worsened; you can feel how Helm's own familiar stories has been distilled into Our Cut of Salt and its characters. In certain ways, I think it helps humanize those people suffering the occupation, giving faces to those cold numbers that might make it feel as something far or not from our time.
Our Cut of Salt is a powerful debut that takes the opportunity to put the spotlight on an uncomfortable reality that many are trying to hide or even are complicit on it; an example of how Gothic Horror can be used as a vehicle to deliver a powerful message. An absolutely remarkable novel by Deena Helm.
The Author/s
Deena Helm
Deena Helm (she/her) is a mixed Palestinian-American author, and OUR CUT OF SALT is her debut novel. Her other works can be found in Fikra Magazine and So To Speak. Alongside her literary endeavors, she has previously worked in social media, and you can find her @deenahlm in most places. She asks that you, the reader, do everything in your power to to resist genocide and deepen your commitment to liberation for all.