The Adventures of Amina al-sirafi This Family

Books: In association with Waterstones Enniskillen Reviews

SHANNON Chakraborty, the bestselling author of ‘The City of Brass’, launches a new trilogy of magic and mayhem with this tale of pirates and sorcerers, forbidden artefacts and ancient mysteries, and one woman’s quest to seize a final chance at glory ...

A pirate of infamy and one of the most storied and scandalous captains to sail the seven seas, Amina al-sirafi has survived facing down backstabbing rogues, vengeful merchant princes, several husbands, and one actual demon to retire peacefully with her family to a life of piety, motherhood, and absolutely nothing that hints of the supernatural.

But when she’s offered a job no bandit could refuse, she jumps at the chance for one final adventure with her old crew that will make her a legend – and offers a fortune that will secure her and her family’s future forever.

Yet the deeper Amina dives, the higher the stakes. For there’s always risk in wanting to become a legend, to seize one last chance at glory, to savour just a bit more power – and the price might be your very soul ...

ALYRICAL, exquisitely constructed exploration of the complex bonds of family from the author of ‘The Stranding’, Sawyer’s nuanced novel is set across one summer’s day as Mary’s relations gather for her wedding.

Mary has raised her daughters in this house. Watched them play and fight and grow up in this house. Today it is the house where she will get married.

The wedding celebrations have brought the fractured family together for the first time in years.

There is Phoebe and her husband Michael, children in tow; the young and sensitive Rosie, with her new partner; Irene, Mary’s ex-mother-in-law; and Emma, there, despite all that has gone before.

Set over the course of an English summer’s day and punctuated with memories from the past 40 years of love and betrayal, hope and joy, heartbreak and grief, this is the story of a family.

Told by a chorus of characters, it is an exploration of the intimacies and transgressions that bring us to where we are, the changes that are brought about by time, and what, despite everything, stays the same.