by Shannon Chakraborty
I came across this book by way of the Book of the Month that I am signed up for. In fact it is THE BOTM, the one that’s been around since the 30s! It was one of my March choices and, well, a feisty female protagonist in the Middle Ages is really all you need to get me hooked. (Ok, not ALL but it’s likely to catch my attention over other books if it is).
The story starts out with an intriguing introduction by the “scribe” of the tale, much in the way a chronicler would have begun their tales in the Middle Ages. They interrupt the story (much to Amina’s annoyance) several times to interject stories around the central stories. Now, Amina al-Sarafi is a retired pirate. She has hidden her family away in a secure location off the central coast of Oman for reasons we learn about later. Unfortunately, the mother of one of her previous crew members finds her and hires her for one last gig: Find her granddaughter who has been kidnapped. With the temptation of a world changing amount of money and not a few threats, Amina begins to gather her old crew members for the job. We meet Timbu, her Indian first mate; Majel, her Somalian navigator, and Dalila, her Christian, well, poisoner. As they continue their journey, they begin to have more and more encounters with witchcraft and magic. Amina will do anything she can to make sure her family stays safe, and her crew survives their journey, but this job may have been one she wasn’t prepared to handle.
I was taken away with the world building in this story. I have a very vague knowledge of the cultures of the Indian Ocean in the 12th century (hilariously, this story takes place a mere year after mine does, in 1143!), so it was a delight to dive into such a well-researched book, and one with an amazing story to boot! Amina is a force to be reckoned with. She is a woman in a man’s job as a ship’s nakhuda. But one way this book differs from many other pirate kinds of book, is that Amina is well aware of the advantages of being a woman in such a job. She can be overlooked in a crowd, pretend to be nothing but just another old widow, or even be completely ignored by those who would never see her as a threat. She never insults other women (well, not just because they’re women) and doesn’t see any problem with a flashy bobble or nice garment. The book ends with the possibility of more to come, which I certainly hope there will be!