The sealwoman's gift / Sally Magnusson.
Material type:
TextPublisher: [London] : Two Roads, [2018]Copyright date: ©2018Description: xiii, 360 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cmContent type: - text
- unmediated
- volume
- 1473638984
- 9781473638969
- 823.92 23
- PR6113.A36 S43 2018
| Item type | Current library | Collection | Call number | Status | Date due | Barcode | Item holds | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BOOK | Meaford Public Library Fiction | Fiction | FIC Magnu (Browse shelf(Opens below)) | Available | 17299 |
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| FIC Maden Line of sight / | FIC Maden Firing point / | FIC Maden Fire strike / | FIC Magnu The sealwoman's gift / | FIC Mah Jacqueline in Paris : a novel / | FIC Major Found far and wide / | FIC Major One for the rock / |
"In 1627, Barbary pirates raided an island off the Iceland coast - and abducted the 400 inhabitants into slavery in Algiers. Among them was a pastor, his wife and their three children. The pastor was sent back on a failed mission to seek ransom. But what actually happened to the women and children - what was their fate? Captive in an alien Arab culture, the pastor's wife meets the unravelling of her identity and the least bearable of losses - her three children - with the one thing she has brought from home: the sagas and folktales in her head."
Patron comment on 08/01/2018
The Sealwoman’s Gift, Sally Magnusson (2018) Novel
Sally Magnusson does a superb job of telling a tale of high adventure, love, loss, and an ultimate test of moral fortitude. Her novel is based on an actual event in the summer of 1627 when corsairs from Algiers and Salé in Morocco sailed to Southern Iceland brutally seizing four-hundred Icelanders to be sold into slavery in Algiers. It follows the experience of Ásta Thorstaynsdóttir and her family that were taken captive. There are some fine passages contrasting Christendom, Islam and the Pagan world, often told with irony and humour. The great Icelandic sagas are also central to the story and often referenced, in particular the Laxdæla saga that features Guðrún Ósvífursdóttir, perhaps one of the most beautiful women to grace the pages of literature. The descriptions of the windswept, harsh but enchanting seascapes of the Icelandic coasts and the seabirds are quite captivating.
This book was thoroughly researched and most of the characters are based on slivers of historical fact. Engrossing and hard to put down.