As Meat Loves Salt

Maria McCann was born in Liverpool in 1956 and spent most of her childhood there devouring novels at every opportunity. She read English at the University of Durham and then embarked on a series of jobs including Citizens’ Advice, telephonist, artist’s model and EFL teacher. Since 1988 she has been a Lecturer in English at a Somerset college. An Arvon course gave her the confidence to write after years of ‘scribbling’ and she later read for an MA in Writing at the University of Glamorgan. She loves plays, gin, dancing and dogs. This is her first novel.

”'A fat, juicy masterpiece. Jacob, who destroys what he loves with the rapacity of his desire, is as compelling as he is appalling…Most impressively, the writing here is flawless. These pages flow like claret.” - Economist

”'A novel teeming with life…a triumphant piece of historical evocation. McCann’s unflinching descriptions of battle are matched by the power of her depiction of London in all its fetid splendour. And in the character of Jacob himself, a strong but selfish man weakened by a violent temper and haunted by guilty dreams, McCann shows the imaginative empathy that is the hallmark of a true novelist.” - Vogue

”'A true delight, vivid, well written and, best of all, accessible…Maria McCann’s characters leap off the page and speak in contemporary voices that entirely convince.” - Daily Express

”'An intriguing and disturbing first novel which lingers in the mind…Tense with anguish, intimacy and shame, it imaginatively re-creates the mentality of a society racked by war and intoxicated by radical new ideas of freedom and change.” - TLS