Sally Magnusson

Nothing, on earth or below it, freezes faster than the worthless heart. Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, realm of the gods, by Odin the Allfather, Hel's fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed. Half beauty, half crone, she has reigned for aeons in the starless darkness of Niflheim, grimly welcoming the most pitiful of death's travellers to her ice-locked prison. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past. Under the wintering solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn Coffin, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die. As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel in turn is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn: that perhaps who she thinks she is isn't who she is really meant to be. A powerful reimagining of the Norse myth of Hel, The Shapeshifter's Daughter celebrates the joy of reclaiming our stories.

Nothing, on earth or below it, freezes faster than the worthless heart.Before she was a hideous monster, the queen of the underworld was simply Hel. But cast as a girl out of lofty Asgard, realm of the gods, by Odin the Allfather, Hel''s fate as the terrible goddess of death is sealed. Half beauty, half crone, she has reigned for aeons in the starless darkness of Niflheim, grimly welcoming the most pitiful of death''s travellers to her ice-locked prison. Until one day a memory shifts, and she is forced to seek out the sun in Midgard, where humans have made their home. Faced with a terminal cancer diagnosis, Helen Firth makes the impulsive decision to return to Orkney after forty years to make peace with her past. Under the wintering solstice sun, she reconnects with the ungainly but affable Thorfinn Coffin, who helps her address the real reason she has returned to the islands: to die. As Helen draws closer to death and ever closer to Thorfinn, Hel in turn is intrigued by Helen. She, too, has a past to confront and a lesson to learn: that perhaps who she thinks she is isn''t who she is really meant to be.A powerful reimagining of the Norse myth of Hel, The Shapeshifter''s Daughter celebrates the joy of reclaiming our stories.

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***LONGLISTED FOR THE HWA DEBUT CROWN 2018*** 'A remarkable feat of imagination ... I enjoyed and admired it in equal measure' Sarah Perry, author of The Essex Serpent 'A powerful tale of Barbary pirates ... richly imagined and energetically told.' Sunday Times - 100 Best Books to Read This Summer'Engrossing' Sunday Express 'Fascinating ... a really, really good read' BBC R2 Book Club'The best sort of historical novel' Scotsman 'A lyrical tale' Stylist 'A poetic retelling of Icelandic history' Daily Mail 'Compelling stuff' Good Housekeeping'An extraordinarily immersive read ... examining themes of motherhood, identity, exile and freedom' Guardian1627. 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 witty, The Sealwoman's Gift speaks across centuries and oceans about loss, love, resilience and redemption. Chosen for the BBC Radio 2 Book Club (a really really good book) and the ITV Zoe Ball Book Club (the quality of the writing is amazing). 'Icelandic history has been brought to extraordinary life... An accomplished and intelligent novel' Yrsa Sigurdardottir, author of Why Did You Lie?'Vivid and compelling' Adam Nichols, co-translator of The Travels of Reverend Olafur Egilsson