The Sealwoman’’s Gift

’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

Bestselling author, journalist and broadcaster Sally Magnusson has written several books for adults and children, most recently her Sunday Times bestseller Where Memories Go (2014) about her mother’s dementia, and The Sealwoman’s Gift (2018), her acclaimed debut novel.

Sally has inherited a rich storytelling tradition from her Scottish and Icelandic forebears. The Sealwoman’s Gift was a Radio 2 Book Club and ITV Zoe Ball Book Club selection, and was shortlisted for the Authors’ Club Best First Novel Award, the Saltire Fiction Book of the Year, the Paul Torday Memorial Prize, the McKitterick Prize, the Waverton Good Read Award and the HWA Debut Fiction Crown.

Sally lives outside Glasgow. Loch Katrine and the surrounding area have long been a favourite haunt.