Book Review: The Sealwoman’s Gift By Sally Magnusson

In 1627, Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted at least 400 people. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were a pastor, Olafur, his wife Asta and three of their four children. Asta Thorsteindottir led a simple life, a life she loved well, on an island off Iceland, where puffins nested and village life was peaceful. That life is forever gone when she is sold, along with two of her children, into the house of a wealthy merchant. Her husband Olafur is sent home to raise a ransom for the release of the Icelandic captives. Faced with the loss of her freedom, family and faith, Asta finds comfort in the Sagas and legends of her childhood. Her owner, Cilleby, is enchanted by this ice woman and her stories, and over the years the pair form a friendship that transcends the traditions and laws of the Muslim country they reside in. Author Sally Magnusson gives voice to a woman only mentioned in passing in the historical notes from that period. Journeying from cold, grey and bleak Iceland, across the seas to hot, dusty and dangerous Algiers, Magnusson has masterfully captured the time and the place. This sweeping saga is at times heart wrenching, but ultimately a moving portrayal of one woman’s determination to survive against the odds.

Hachette Australia, $29.99