"In 1627 Barbary pirates raided the coast of Iceland and abducted at least 400 of its people, including 250 from a tiny island of the mainland. Among the captives sold into slavery in Algiers were the island pastor, his wife, and their children. Although the raid itself is well documented, little is known about what happened to the women and children afterwards. It was a time when women everywhere were largely silent. In this brilliant reimagining Sally Magnusson gives a voice to Ásta, the pastor's wife. Enslaved in an alien Arab culture, Ásta meets the loss of freedom and family with the one thing she has brought from her northern homeland: the sagas and folktales in her head. The Sealwoman's Gift is about the eternal power of storytelling to help us survive. Here are Icelandic sagas to fend off a slave-master's advances, Arabian nights to help an old man die. Here, too, the stories we tell ourselves to protect our minds from what cannot otherwise be borne, the stories we need to make us happy."