Ring of Salt: Finding home and hope on the Wild Coast of Ireland
On sale
2nd April 2026
Price: £12.99
Betsy Cornwell left home with her baby on his first birthday, checking into a hotel under a false name so her husband could not track them down. Over the long months of housing insecurity that followed, bouncing around cheap motel rooms and friend’s couches, Betsy’s determination to offer her son something she’d never had – a safe, stable home – took on the force of obsession.
In The Old Knitting Factory, Cornwell invites readers to join her on the path that led out of her violent marriage and into renovating a run-down house on a lake in rural Ireland, transforming a largely abandoned and abused vacation house into a family home and childcare-inclusive arts retreat space for other single parents. Along the way, she creates community and finds family wherever she goes – even when she has to build it herself, brick by brick.
Mixing Maid‘s gripping portrait of single motherhood’s precarity with The Salt Path‘s wild, romantic sense of place – in this case among rural Ireland’s cool mists, nubbly Aran yarns, and whispering turf fires – The Old Knitting Factory invites readers to experience the magic of found family and new beginnings.
In The Old Knitting Factory, Cornwell invites readers to join her on the path that led out of her violent marriage and into renovating a run-down house on a lake in rural Ireland, transforming a largely abandoned and abused vacation house into a family home and childcare-inclusive arts retreat space for other single parents. Along the way, she creates community and finds family wherever she goes – even when she has to build it herself, brick by brick.
Mixing Maid‘s gripping portrait of single motherhood’s precarity with The Salt Path‘s wild, romantic sense of place – in this case among rural Ireland’s cool mists, nubbly Aran yarns, and whispering turf fires – The Old Knitting Factory invites readers to experience the magic of found family and new beginnings.
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Reviews
A stunning memoir, intimate and vast at once. This is a very special book
A powerful and deeply empowering book, Ring of Salt is a hymn to the strength of community, a rallying cry against systemic injustice, and a testimony to the resilience of one woman's spirit. Beautifully written, this is an immersive exploration into the joy of finding home in unconventional places
The best memoir I've read in years. As transportive as a fairytale, but as real as the Connemara wind on your face, every page pulses with the wild spirit of Ireland. This memoir is for anyone ready to believe in the power of resilience, reinvention, and the communities that catch us when we fall
The story of hard-earned triumph for a single mother who forges a path through childhood abuse, domestic violence, penury, and isolation to an abundant life on the wild coast of Ireland. Best of all, Cornwell's story of resilience and hope is beautifully written; each sentence shimmers like the incandescent Irish coastline
A truly beautifully written, heart-wrenching memoir that brings the power of community, and the power of women, to every page. Betsy takes you with her on an incredible journey from the cloying damp of an isolated cottage, chill with her fear, to the warmth and sweetness of sun-ripened wild strawberries and stunning sunsets, her child in her arms every step of the way. Emotional, spellbinding, inspirational, Ring of Salt is a tour-de-force of a book
A searingly painful yet stunning and hopeful piece of work. I am in awe of Cornwell's determination and courage and her ability to draw meaning from the darkest times. She has created a profound and beautiful piece of art from these experiences
Clear-eyed, open-hearted, and brimming with hope, Betsy Cornwell's Ring of Salt is a beautifully told memoir. As an artist, an ex-pat fleeing family violence, and an immigrant searching for a home in the world, she writes with urgency and candour, pulling readers along on her wild rollercoaster into love and heartbreak and out again
When I grow up, I want to write like Betsy Cornwell! She's poetic and gritty and funny and heartbreaking . . . often in the same paragraph. Ring of Salt captures what it's like to rebuild from the ruins, to mother while mourning, and to find a safe home inside yourself when the world hasn't offered one. Cornwell doesn't mistake escape for freedom, and she writes beautifully about what comes after survival - the long, brave, often invisible work of building a new life. It's honest, lyrical, and quietly revolutionary
Wondrous . . . This book renewed something in my own heart. A beautiful tale of love, survival and community
Ring of Salt was so vast and tender and urgent, it was almost like reading a novel. I couldn't put it down. I haven't cheered for a heroine like Betsy in ages
I was rapt in anticipation through every turn, feeling every piece of perfect prose, every sweeping onset of emotion, every moment of grit and grace. A lyrical, intimate account of self-empowerment, survival, and the intricate assembling of courage necessary to take your child by the hand and know that where you're going is more powerful than where you came from
Reading Ring of Salt is a profoundly inspiring experience. The memoir eloquently illustrates how the traumas of life can be converted into creativity and magic, enabling beauty and hope to coexist with pain. Cornwell's writing facilitates healing and empowerment, resonating deeply with readers through each meticulously crafted sentence
This is a scary but ultimately heartening story and Cornwell writes with a novelist's energy and eye for drama. Genuinely compelling!
A beautiful and deeply moving memoir. I could not put it down. Cornwell explores with honesty, humour and courage what it takes to start over, and chronicles how she drew strength from female friendship, motherhood, community, and Ireland itself. A must-read