''REMARKABLE'' Sarah Perry | ''EXTRAORDINARILY IMMERSIVE'' Guardian | ''EPIC'' Zoe Ball Book Club | ''A REALLY REALLY GOOD READ'' BBC R2 Book Club'' | ''LYRICAL'' Stylist | ''POETIC'' Daily Mail 1627. In a notorious historical event pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted 400 people into slavery in Algiers. Among them a pastor his wife and their children. In her acclaimed debut novel Sally Magnusson imagines what history does not record: the experience of Asta the pastor''s wife as she faces her losses with the one thing left to her - the stories from home - and forges an ambiguous bond with the man who bought her. Uplifting moving and sharply witty The Sealwoman''s Giftspeaks across centuries and oceans about loss love resilience and redemption. SHORTLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN | THE BEST FIRST NOVEL AWARD | THE MCKITTERICK PRIZE | THE PAUL TORDAY MEMORIAL PRIZE | THE WAVERTON GOOD READ AWARD | A ZOE BALL ITV BOOK CLUB PICK ''Sally Magnusson has taken an amazing true event and created a brilliant first novel. It''s an epic journey in every sense: although it''s historical it''s incredibly relevant to our world today. We had to pick it'' Zoe Ball Book Club ''Richly imagined and energetically told'' Sunday Times ''The best sort of historical novel'' Scotsman ''Compelling '' Good Housekeeping ''An accomplished and intelligent novel'' Yrsa Sigurðardóttir author of Why Did You Lie? ''Vivid and compelling'' Adam Nichols co-translator of The Travels of Reverend Ólafur Egilsson . Language: English