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The Saltmere Soundtrack

Songs for reading The Tidewater Secrets. Heavy on Fleetwood Mac, because Nora Callahan has opinions about music and I am not going to argue with her.

Book 1

The Letter You Never Got

Nora & Finn · Winter · Fleetwood Mac on repeat

  1. 1

    The Chain

    Fleetwood Mac

    Nora's demolition anthem. The bass line sounds like the structural integrity of a relationship giving way.

  2. 2

    Everywhere

    Fleetwood Mac

    The song playing when Finn realizes he's been noticing things he has no business noticing.

  3. 3

    Sara

    Fleetwood Mac

    For the fog. For the harbor at dawn. For the things Nora won't say out loud.

  4. 4

    Landslide

    Fleetwood Mac

    Chapter 14. You'll know why when you get there.

  5. 5

    Dreams

    Fleetwood Mac

    The masking tape comes up. The silence stops being aggressive.

  6. 6

    Songbird

    Fleetwood Mac

    For the epilogue. For standing still. For letting someone hold you.

  7. 7

    Silver Springs

    Fleetwood Mac

    Nora's mother. The faucet at midnight. The girl who became the roof.

  8. 8

    Rhiannon

    Fleetwood Mac

    For Nora in the cottage before dawn, working alone, pretending she prefers it that way.

  9. 9

    Little Lies

    Fleetwood Mac

    I work better alone. I'm fine. I don't need help. I'm not dignifying that with a response.

  10. 10

    Storm

    Fleetwood Mac

    January on the Oregon coast. The harbor in the dark. A building that was still trying.

Book 2

The Words Between Us

Jade & Leo · Spring · Coming May 22

  1. 1

    Don't Speak

    No Doubt

    Eight years of silence. The wall Jade built. The wall Leo earned.

  2. 2

    The Scientist

    Coldplay

    Leo's three notebooks. Blue ink for facts. Black ink for connections. Pencil for the thoughts he doesn't trust yet.

  3. 3

    Dog Days Are Over

    Florence + The Machine

    Jade in the tidewater caves, discovering that the anger was the cage and she held the key.

Book 3

The Story We Told

Margot & Owen · Summer · Coming June 12

  1. 1

    Slow Dancing in a Burning Room

    John Mayer

    Margot's first marriage. The erosion. The years she lost.

  2. 2

    Golden Hour

    Kacey Musgraves

    This is not a thunderbolt. It is better. It is a sunrise.

  3. 3

    First Day of My Life

    Bright Eyes

    Owen at the bookshop on a Tuesday, forgetting to write because watching her is better.

Book 4

The Promise We Kept

Delia & Sam · Autumn · Coming July 3

  1. 1

    Make You Feel My Love

    Bob Dylan

    Sam in the kitchen at 2 AM, making pierogi because he didn't know what else to do with his hands.

  2. 2

    Harvest Moon

    Neil Young

    Autumn on the headlands. The Lantern Festival. A marriage that stopped being an arrangement.

  3. 3

    Stand By Me

    Ben E. King

    The arrangement is terminated. The marriage is not.

Book 5

The Truth She Left Behind

Wren & Cass · Early Winter · Coming July 24

  1. 1

    Somewhere Only We Know

    Keane

    Wren in the hidden room. Twenty years of carrying a secret. Grandmother's voice: When it's time, you'll know.

  2. 2

    Home

    Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros

    Cass unpacking the duffel bag. Rosie's birthday wish. The bookshelf in sea-glass green.

  3. 3

    I Wanna Hold Your Hand

    The Beatles (T Bone Burnett cover)

    Every letter delivered. Every couple home. The series ends where the town begins.

"She plays Fleetwood Mac too loud. He doesn't react. She needs a tool from his side; he hands it to her before she asks."

This playlist will grow as each book is released. If you have a song that belongs in Saltmere, tell me.