Rose Sutherland can’t recall the first time she heard the classic myth of The Selkie Wife. Growing up with Scottish, Irish, and English ancestry, “it feels like I have always kind of known the story,” shares the Canadian scribe. What she does remember, however, is that something about the ancient Scottish folktale never sat right with her – even as a child.

Like many folktales, stories of the selkie may differ, but most have a similar structure. In Celtic mythology, a selkie is a mermaid-like creature who shapeshifts between seal and human form. To become human, she sheds her sealskin. Likewise, she needs don that skin again if she is to return to her aquatic dwelling. In many versions of the tale, a human man falls in love with the selkie and steals or hides her sealskin so she can no longer return to the sea. Once she is resigned to life on land, the man marries the selkie and may even have children with her – however, the selkie always longs to return to her watery home. In some versions of the tale, one of the selkie’s children finds the sealskin and gives it back to her so she may leave her husband. Although the ending might be sad for the man, Sutherland couldn’t empathize with him, and it wasn’t until recently that she realized why.

A few years ago, she came upon a post on the popular blogging site Tumblr.

“Someone had posted a series of things about magical creatures in a modern context. They had thrown out this notion of selkies as victims of human trafficking and I found it somewhat disturbing that our fables detail the kidnapping of a woman and the forcing of her into marriage.”

Sutherland quickly began making notes that would eventually become the basis for her debut novel, A Sweet Sting of Salt. The writing process, she admits, was a messy one.

“I drafted the whole thing over nine months, in fits and starts. After lengthy revisions, the book was officially published this past April.”

A Sweet Sting of Salt is Sutherland’s reimagining of The Selkie Wife. The novel takes place in 19th century Nova Scotia, where a 24-year-old midwife named Jean falls for Muirin, her neighbour’s mysterious new bride.

“It becomes obvious that there is something going on with Muirin and Jean can’t quite put her finger on what it is, at first. The more she digs into it, the more suspicious it all becomes.”

In addition to revisiting the selkie figure, Sutherland wanted to challenge the idea that queer people didn’t exist – or, if they did, they were exclusively miserable – in historical times.

According to the author, it was a challenge to market A Sweet Sting of Salt since it doesn’t fit neatly into one category. These days, fairytale or folktale retellings are almost part of their own genre – whether it’s Ava Reid’s Juniper and Thorn or Neil Gaiman’s take on well-known Norse myths, it seems that what once was old is new again.

Sutherland has her own ideas about why.

“We think of them as children’s stories – and they are simplified for small ears, if you will – however, they are actually quite complex. They delve into things that are very real, very grownup. Concerns about the world, how to look at the world, and lessons you may need to cope as an adult.”

To her astonishment, she has come upon many people who haven’t heard of the original selkie myth. At first, she had wanted the reader to be as blindsided by the fantasy element.

“Unfortunately, to market this book, I have had to spoil the biggest surprise in the story.”

As much as A Sweet Sting of Salt is a love tale, it is also a love letter of sorts to Sutherland’s home province. Although the author currently resides in Ontario, she grew up in rural Nova Scotia.

“The ways in which I describe Nova Scotia was very much in homesickness and the desire to be home. And by transplanting the folktale to this continent, it instantly become much less homogenous. It was not, strictly speaking, only Celtic anymore.”

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