
The Salt Roads
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $21.49
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Bahni Turpin
-
By:
-
Nalo Hopkinson
About this listen
In 1804, shortly before the Caribbean island of Saint Domingue is renamed Haiti, a group of women gather to bury a stillborn baby. Led by a lesbian healer and midwife named Mer, the women's lamentations inadvertently release the dead infant's "unused vitality" to draw Ezili - the Afro-Caribbean goddess of sexual desire and love - into the physical world.
As Ezili explores her newfound powers, she travels across time and space to inhabit the midwife's body - as well as those of Jeanne, a mixed-race dancer and the mistress of Charles Baudelaire living in 1880s Paris, and Meritet, an enslaved Greek-Nubian prostitute in ancient Alexandria.
Bound together by Ezili and "the salt road" of their sweat, blood, and tears, the three women struggle against a hostile world, unaware of the goddess's presence in their lives. Despite her magic, Mer suffers as a slave on a sugar plantation until Ezili plants the seeds of uprising in her mind. Jeanne slowly succumbs to the ravages of age and syphilis when her lover is unable to escape his mother's control. And Meritet, inspired by Ezili, flees her enslavement and makes a pilgrimage to Egypt, where she becomes known as Saint Mary.
©2003 Nalo Hopkinson (P)2018 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
-
Daughters of Nri
- By: Reni K. Amayo
- Narrated by: Weruche Opia
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gruesome war results in the old gods' departure from earth. The only remnants of their existence lie in two girls. Twins, separated at birth. Goddesses who grow up believing that they are human. Daughters of Nri explores their epic journey of self-discovery as they embark on a path back to one another. Strong-willed Naala grows up seeking adventure in her quiet and small village. While the more reserved Sinai resides in the cold and political palace of Nri.
-
-
The potential to be a good story but the pace is unbearable
- By Danay on 02-19-20
By: Reni K. Amayo
-
Midnight Robber
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree....
-
-
Even Through the Dimensions, Girls Are Not Safe
- By mary on 12-11-12
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Skin Folk
- Stories
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like "Precious", in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In "A Habit of Waste", a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she's shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus.
-
-
mindblowingly exquisite!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-23-20
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Conjure Women
- A Novel
- By: Afia Atakora
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter, Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter, Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child.
-
-
Conjure Women
- By Valerie D. Pegram on 04-22-20
By: Afia Atakora
-
She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
-
-
Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
By: Wayétu Moore
-
Brown Girl in the Ring
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.
-
-
Fascinating, unique story deftly narrated
- By Stef on 03-15-07
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Daughters of Nri
- By: Reni K. Amayo
- Narrated by: Weruche Opia
- Length: 11 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A gruesome war results in the old gods' departure from earth. The only remnants of their existence lie in two girls. Twins, separated at birth. Goddesses who grow up believing that they are human. Daughters of Nri explores their epic journey of self-discovery as they embark on a path back to one another. Strong-willed Naala grows up seeking adventure in her quiet and small village. While the more reserved Sinai resides in the cold and political palace of Nri.
-
-
The potential to be a good story but the pace is unbearable
- By Danay on 02-19-20
By: Reni K. Amayo
-
Midnight Robber
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 12 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It's Carnival time and the Caribbean-colonized planet of Toussaint is celebrating with music, dance, and pageantry. Masked "Midnight Robbers" waylay revelers with brandished weapons and spellbinding words. To young Tan-Tan, the Robber Queen is simply a favorite costume to wear at the festival - until her power-corrupted father commits an unforgiveable crime. Suddenly, both father and daughter are thrust into the brutal world of New Half-Way Tree....
-
-
Even Through the Dimensions, Girls Are Not Safe
- By mary on 12-11-12
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Skin Folk
- Stories
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 8 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best spinning tales like "Precious", in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In "A Habit of Waste", a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she's shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus.
-
-
mindblowingly exquisite!!!
- By Amazon Customer on 12-23-20
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Conjure Women
- A Novel
- By: Afia Atakora
- Narrated by: Adenrele Ojo
- Length: 13 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Conjure Women is a sweeping story that brings the world of the South before and after the Civil War vividly to life. Spanning eras and generations, it tells of the lives of three unforgettable women: Miss May Belle, a wise healing woman; her precocious and observant daughter, Rue, who is reluctant to follow in her mother’s footsteps as a midwife; and their master’s daughter, Varina. The secrets and bonds among these women and their community come to a head at the beginning of a war and at the birth of an accursed child.
-
-
Conjure Women
- By Valerie D. Pegram on 04-22-20
By: Afia Atakora
-
She Would Be King
- A Novel
- By: Wayétu Moore
- Narrated by: Wayétu Moore
- Length: 9 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Wayétu Moore’s powerful debut novel, She Would Be King, reimagines the dramatic story of Liberia’s early years through three unforgettable characters who share an uncommon bond. Gbessa, exiled from the West African village of Lai, is starved, bitten by a viper, and left for dead, but still she survives. June Dey, raised on a plantation in Virginia, hides his unusual strength until a confrontation with the overseer forces him to flee. Norman Aragon, the child of a white British colonizer and a Maroon slave from Jamaica, can fade from sight when the earth calls him.
-
-
Beautiful example of magical realism.
- By Danielle on 10-07-18
By: Wayétu Moore
-
Brown Girl in the Ring
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Peter Jay Fernandez
- Length: 7 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.
-
-
Fascinating, unique story deftly narrated
- By Stef on 03-15-07
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
The Witches of Salix Pointe
- By: Noelle Vella
- Narrated by: Hazel Addison, Hollace Williams
- Length: 9 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Nestled between Little St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island, Salix Pointe is not a place that many people know of. Part of the Golden Isles of Georgia, all the weeping willows that grow there have led the surrounding town’s folk to call it the Island of Death. Elisa and Tasmin may not want to put too much stock into the folklore of Salix Pointe, but there is a reason that the universe has brought the two women together.
-
-
A Southern Girls World
- By Ayanna First of BSB on 01-16-22
By: Noelle Vella
-
Sister Mine
- By: Nalo Hopkinson
- Narrated by: Robin Miles
- Length: 11 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
"We'd had to be cut free of our mother's womb. Abby and I were fused, you see. But here's the real kicker; Abby had the magic, I didn't." Now adults, Makeda and Abby still share their childhood home. The surgery to separate the two girls left Makeda with what feels like an even worse deformity: no mojo. The daughters of a celestial demigod and a human woman, Makeda and Abby were raised by their magical father. Today, Makeda has decided it's high time to move out and make her own life.
-
-
Narrator saves this story
- By Denis A. on 03-21-14
By: Nalo Hopkinson
-
Skin of the Sea
- Skin of the Sea, Book 1
- By: Natasha Bowen
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Simi prayed to the gods, once. Now she serves them as Mami Wata—a mermaid—collecting the souls of those who die at sea and blessing their journeys back home. But when a living boy is thrown overboard, Simi goes against an ancient decree and does the unthinkable—she saves his life. And punishment awaits those who dare to defy the gods.
-
-
Black history AND black mermaids!!! LOVE IT
- By Kamaya on 02-05-22
By: Natasha Bowen
-
Sex, Race, and Robots
- How to Be Human in the Age of AI
- By: Dr. Ayanna Howard
- Narrated by: Amandla Stenberg
- Length: 6 hrs and 15 mins
- Original Recording
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the movies, robots can be terrifying. In reality, thinking machines are disrupting the world in ways that are even more disturbing than in Hollywood fantasies - but they also have the potential to change our lives for the better. In this stirring, visionary work, acclaimed roboticist Dr. Ayanna Howard explores how the tech world’s racial and sexual biases are infecting the next generation of Artificial Intelligence, with profoundly negative effects for humans of all genders and races.
-
-
Will not return
- By bilihor on 12-26-20
-
Akata Witch
- Akata Witch Series, Book 1
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Yetide Badaki
- Length: 8 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Twelve-year-old Sunny lives in Nigeria, but she was born American. Her features are African, but she has albinism. She's a terrific athlete but can't go out into the sun to play soccer. There seems to be no place where she fits in. And then she discovers something amazing - she is a "free agent" with latent mystical power.
-
-
imaginative!
- By A^3 on 04-26-18
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
The Deep
- By: Rivers Solomon, Daveed Diggs, William Hutson, and others
- Narrated by: Daveed Diggs
- Length: 4 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Yetu holds the memories for her people - water-dwelling descendants of pregnant African slave women thrown overboard by slave owners - who live idyllic lives in the deep. Their past, too traumatic to be remembered regularly, is forgotten by everyone, save one - the historian. This demanding role has been bestowed on Yetu. Yetu remembers for everyone, and the memories, painful and wonderful, traumatic and terrible and miraculous, are destroying her. And so, she flees to the surface, escaping the memories, the expectations, and the responsibilities.
-
-
why was this read by a dude?
- By Nathaniel on 12-14-19
By: Rivers Solomon, and others
-
Noor
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Délé Ogundiran
- Length: 7 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anwuli Okwudili prefers to be called AO. To her, these initials have always stood for Artificial Organism. AO has never really felt...natural, and that's putting it lightly. Her parents spent most of the days before she was born praying for her peaceful passing because even in-utero she was "wrong". But she lived. Then came the car accident years later that disabled her even further. Yet instead of viewing her strange body the way the world views it, as freakish, unnatural, even the work of the devil, AO embraces all that she is.
-
-
Slow audio speed to 0.9x
- By Camille on 02-02-22
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick
- Stories from the Harlem Renaissance
- By: Zora Neale Hurston
- Narrated by: Aunjanue Ellis
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Stick is an outstanding collection of stories about love and migration, gender and class, racism and sexism that proudly reflect African-American folk culture. Brought together for the first time in one volume, they include eight of Hurston’s "lost" Harlem stories, which were found in forgotten periodicals and archives. These stories challenge conceptions of Hurston as an author of rural fiction and include gems that flash with her biting, satiric humor, as well as more serious tales.
-
-
Great Writer - Great Reader
- By Avid Listener on 09-09-20
-
Riot Baby
- By: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Narrated by: Tochi Onyebuchi
- Length: 3 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ella has a Thing. She sees a classmate grow up to become a caring nurse. A neighbor's son murdered in a drive-by shooting. Things that haven't happened yet. Kev, born while Los Angeles burned around them, wants to protect his sister from a power that could destroy her. But when Kev is incarcerated, Ella must decide what it means to watch her brother suffer while holding the ability to wreck cities in her hands. Rooted in the hope that can live in anger, Riot Baby is as much an intimate family story as a global dystopian narrative.
-
-
I...wasn’t...ready
- By Amazon Customer1 on 04-28-20
By: Tochi Onyebuchi
-
Here Comes the Sun
- A Novel
- By: Nicole Dennis-Benn
- Narrated by: Bahni Turpin
- Length: 11 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
At an opulent resort in Montego Bay, Margot hustles to send her younger sister, Thandi, to school. Taught as a girl to trade her sexuality for survival, Margot is ruthlessly determined to shield Thandi from the same fate. When plans for a new hotel threaten their village, Margot sees not only an opportunity for her own financial independence but also perhaps a chance to admit a shocking secret: her forbidden love for another woman.
-
-
Wow!!!
- By FirstLowell on 09-03-16
-
Remote Control
- By: Nnedi Okorafor
- Narrated by: Adjoa Andoh
- Length: 4 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The day Fatima forgot her name, Death paid a visit. From hereon in she would be known as Sankofa - a name that meant nothing to anyone but her, the only tie to her family and her past. Her touch is death, and with a glance a town can fall. And she walks - alone, except for her fox companion - searching for the object that came from the sky and gave itself to her when the meteors fell and when she was yet unchanged; searching for answers.
-
-
Afrofuturist Sci/Fantasy Fairytale
- By J. Angel on 01-20-21
By: Nnedi Okorafor
-
The Color Purple
- By: Alice Walker
- Narrated by: Samira Wiley
- Length: 8 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Celie has grown up poor in rural Georgia, despised by the society around her and abused by her own family. She strives to protect her sister, Nettie, from a similar fate, and while Nettie escapes to a new life as a missionary in Africa, Celie is left behind without her best friend and confidante, married off to an older suitor, and sentenced to a life alone with a harsh and brutal husband. In an attempt to transcend a life that often seems too much to bear, Celie begins writing letters directly to God.
-
-
Wow!
- By elizabeth h correa on 05-19-20
By: Alice Walker
What listeners say about The Salt Roads
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- sherri mccoy
- 04-15-19
confusing
bounced around from story to story too much. I got really bored toward the end and couldn't wait for it to be over.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
1 person found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Torrance M.
- 03-19-21
Didn't want it to end!
I finished the book a week ago and cannot get the voices of the characters out of my head! The narration is exquisite! And each character a jewel. It started off a bit difficult with the bouncing around between the different times and storylines told in 1st person, but once my brain figured out what the author was doing, I was hooked. And this is we're the narration was just so wonderful! Between the author's descriptions and the narrators different voices, listening was like floating away.
And I loved the ending! Just finished another book and hated the ending because everything was left undone. You could tell that it's a hopefull book one.
The Salt Roads is complete. I was left wanting to know more, to find out what happens next, but nothing was left undone. I was surprised at how quickly, effortlessly, and eloquently the author ended the book. How it all came together and the picture it left behind of these women, these African women...
I have no connection to thier story's, other than a belief that we all come from one place, and that all of our humanities are intertwined and same. The humanity displayed in this novel left my soul smiling. I think I'll go and listen to it again
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Avery
- 06-01-24
The historic figures given a voice
I loved the meaning of salt with the God's and learning about the ppl of Haiti and French poets and Dusky Mary of Egypt
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Valerie D. Pegram
- 12-04-18
Salt Roads
I was disappointed in this story. The narration was excellent. I love this particular narrator's beautiful voice and inflections, outstanding! But the story itself was difficult to follow and left me wondering what she was really trying to say. I often struggled to get through, and then I'd think okay I got it....but not really.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
56 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- niesha turner
- 07-26-19
Not sure how to feel
I really struggled to finish this book. I wanted to love it but the story changes just wouldn't let me. I wanted more depth and more of each story. maybe if it would have been a book of short stories, I would have liked it more.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Palin
- 05-21-19
Raw truths
This book is incredible. I was sucked into the narrative of each of the women and each of the Gods that inhabited them. The truths of slavery and desire and repression and control and freedom were so salient that I couldn't resist the urge to "feel" it all.
Nalo illustrstes that salt, the taste of blood, sweat, tears, and the essence of a lover, is the essence of the sea that carried the slave ships, and also “the white man’s obeah” that bound the slaves to the new land. In reality, the salt roads were trade routes, essential connections between distant lands. In the same way, the gods travel the salt roads within the “storystream."
In the midst of turmoil, these powerful black women carved out a delicious pleasure in the midst of a horrible pain inflicted on them by some chosen masters and some forced- including god.
Although there was some abrupt juxtaposition, I feel this also lended to the value, complexity and intensity of the character lives in this story. As they were abruptly removed from their lives and their worlds changed without notice.
I could go on about this book, but rather I encourage you to listen for yourself.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 09-14-19
Loved the narrators and story
Great overall story.. a little confusing but I think thats just because I was listening and not reading. I love when history merges with fiction
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Monique
- 03-06-23
Love this book!
The narrator stole my heart from the first word. The story line maintained my interest the entire time.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Lauren
- 02-02-19
such an incredible book
A must-read book with afro-futurist, historical and magical realist themes. If you enjoy this book, you will also enjoy her book The Midnight Robber Queen.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
35 people found this helpful
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Kindle Customer
- 03-15-20
Quite a great read
This was a great read, I couldn’t even think of any dislikes about it after I finished. For being fiction the theological aspects were well researched. 2 thumbs up
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!