Our Cut of Salt by Deena Helm
Tor Nightfire (September 22nd, 2026)
Reviewed by Adam Allen
Our Cut of Salt marks the debut of a fierce new voice in literary horror. This is not only one of the best horror novels of the year, but one of the best books you’ll ever read. It is haunting, tragic, very entertaining, and it will make you do the most important things a book can do: think and feel. Horror is the genre that looks at the world and asks why, digs deeper, and doesn’t turn away from the darkness. Deena Helm’s debut is a brilliant example of how much can be accomplished by a horror novel.
In this book, we follow three generations of Palestinian women. We begin with Nuhad, who lived in Palestine during the Nakba of 1948 and later moved to the US, where her daughter, Haifa (named after the city where Nuhad grew up), and her granddaughter, Marina, begin the novel. When we first meet Haifa and Marina, Nuhad has recently passed away, and in the aftermath of this loss, both Haifa and Marina are searching for their place in the world.
Marina is taking a trip to the homeland she has never actually experienced. It is her wish to visit Haifa, the city where her grandmother’s house still stands, to get a better understanding of what her ancestors went through. Her mother, also named Haifa, has never visited the city of her namesake and is extremely wary about Marina going, but eventually she caves and gives her blessing.
What follows is part haunted house story and part deeply horrifying historical fiction. Nuhad’s ancestral home is not happy about being occupied and has spent decades violently defending itself. Helm seamlessly weaves Nuhad’s story with those of Haifa and Marina in a way that is incredibly effective. This is a story of maternal love and the lengths a parent will go to keep their family safe in the midst of horrific circumstances.
I consider myself to be a relatively well-read person, and had a cursory understanding of the history of the area, but this book made me realize just how little I actually knew. The section of the book that took place during the “war” (really an ethnic cleansing) in 1948 had my face streaked with tears. It is some of the most horrifying and beautiful writing that I have experienced in a very long time. That can be said of the entire book. Helm brings deeply poetic, lyrical prose to this story, and there were so many times when I could not believe I was reading the author’s debut.
Traditionally, the final act of a horror novel delivers some deliciously creepy imagery and moments, and there is a specific scene involving a weather event that will live in my memory for a very long time. I love the idea of a sentient home, and Helm makes full use of this idea in ways that are both terrifying and heartbreaking.
By the end of this book, you will feel like you were a witness to history, both on a large scale and intimately within one family. In Helm’s masterful hands, the story of these three women becomes universal.
Our Cut of Salt is a must-read. This book should be a literary event and on everyone’s TBR list.
