Deena Helm: Our Cut of Salt at Skylight Books

Monday night at Skylight Books is a haunted house story, and not the October kind. Deena Helm is in the store to talk about Our Cut of Salt, her debut novel. Dahlia De La Vega, the LA interviewer behind ofpagesandprint, is in the other chair. If you're sorting through upcoming events in Los Angeles and want something quieter than a club and stranger than a lecture, put this on the list.

The book

The novel opens in Haifa. Nuhad's childhood home there has a reputation: cats won't go near it, noises come from inside, and people who go in have vanished. Nuhad hasn't been back since the Nakba in 1948, but she never stopped holding a place for the house, and the house did the same for her.

After Nuhad dies, her granddaughter Marina decides to go see it. She grew up knowing almost nothing about her family's history or culture. Her mother, named Haifa after the city the family lost, agrees to the trip without enthusiasm. She knows some things are better left buried. Marina gets sicker the deeper she digs, so Haifa follows her, and all three women end up in the house together with a haunting to put to rest.

Horror writer Paul Tremblay called it "a one-of-a-kind haunted house." That's a fair shorthand for a ghost story that is really about losing a home, then going back and finding it changed for good.

Who's talking

Helm is a mixed Palestinian-American writer. Before this novel, her work ran in Fikra Magazine and So To Speak. De La Vega moderates book events at stores and festivals around town, runs a monthly book club called Musings of the Nine, and posts about what she's reading on Instagram. Expect a real conversation rather than a straight reading, followed by the usual signing line.

Practical info

Things start at 7 PM and the listing has the evening wrapping around 9 PM. The event flyer says admission is free and seating is first-come, first-served. Skylight is a small store, so for a well-promoted debut it's worth showing up early to get a chair. Check the listing for any last-minute changes before you head out.

The store is at 1818 N Vermont Avenue, on the busy Vermont strip lined with restaurants and cafes. Metro's B Line stop at Vermont/Sunset is a short walk south. Street parking on Vermont and the side streets is doable on a Monday night, but give yourself a few extra minutes to circle.

If you're building a week of things to do in Los Angeles around books, grab your copy at the counter before the talk. That's how an independent store keeps booking nights like this.

More picks are on the arts and culture calendar, and the full list of Things Happening In Los Angeles covers the rest of the city.