The Sealwoman’s Gift (English Edition)

There is a true incident in Icelandic history little known outside their culture. In 1627, Barbary pirates raided an island off the Iceland coast - and abducted 250 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 and wrote an account of his adventures. But what happened to the islanders? Most importantly, what happened to his wife and family? Barely a handful of facts is known about Ásta, his wife. How did she survive these terrible events? It's Ásta's space that the author has filled with her stunning novel of love and loss: she has given voice to a woman who, to all intents and purposes (like so many women in history), had none at all. Yet she was clearly remarkable. Captive in an alien Arab culture, the pastor's wife met the unravelling of her identity and beliefs and the least bearable of losses - her three children - with the one thing she brought from home: the stories in her head, like an Icelandic Scheherazade.Intensely moving, The Sealwoman's Gift pays tribute to the fundamental power of storytelling in our lives, our ability to survive loss and tragedy and the real meaning of love.