Ring of Salt by Betsy Cornwall:

An American mother’s story of fleeing abuse and rebuilding her life in the West of Ireland

Betsy Cornwell’s dream of living in Ireland becomes a nightmare but her story of rewriting her life in ‘Ring of Salt’ is a compelling read

Talented writer: Betsy Cornwell

Happy memoirs don’t draw readers in like the miserable ones. Betsy ­Cornwell’s Ring of Salt is not a pleasant read – it discusses domestic violence and child abuse – yet it is addictive.

We first meet an exhausted 23-year-old Betsy in 2012, when she arrived on Inis Mór from the US trying to forget a man who treated her with “grinding ambivalence”. She has just finished a masters in creative writing and already has achieved one of her dreams of becoming an author. Other dreams are to leave her abusive father and to spend time i