Zoe Ball Book Club heads to Iceland

Submitted: 9th August 2018

Next week’s star turn on the Zoe Ball BookClub is the wonderful tale of Icelandic history and folklore. There’s so much wrapped up in this book, it’s a joy to read and tease out all the threads. And now it’s going to be on the Zoe Ball Book Club!

Would you like to win one of three copies we have ready to fly out into the world with a tale of Iceland within its pages…

The Sealwoman’s Gift is based on a story I’ve long known about: the events of July 1627, when pirates from Algiers landed on the south coast of Iceland and the tiny island of Heimaey, abducted 400 men, women and children from their homes and took them back to North Africa to be sold into slavery. Actually these same corsairs were operating all over Europe at the time – there were English, Scottish and Irish slaves in Algiers as well as many thousands of others. It’s a part of our history we never hear about, astoundingly, and I reckoned it would be a great basis for a novel.

Zoe Ball bookclub review

My father was an Icelander and I’ve long regarded that northern country as a second homeland. My childhood was forged by sagas and Norse myths and folklore, so I was keen to weave these in as well, in order to create an imaginative universe in which I could examine the theme of story itself and its role in helping us to survive.

Zoe Ball bookclub website

Sally, how does it feel to have your book on the TV?

I was thrilled when The Sealwoman’s Gift was chosen by the Zoe Ball Book Club. It’s brilliant to see books being celebrated on TV again – and it’s a really fabulous first list. I’m honoured to be on it.

Win one of THREE copies of the book – just RT the pinned tweet you see on TheBookTrail Twitter account!

The book will be sent directly from the publisher. If you’re not happy with The BookTrail passing on your details to them (for this competition and no other reason) then please consider this when you RT