The Sealwoman's Gift, Sally Magnusson

This was a good story, a re imagining of a historical incident in which 400 Icelanders were captured and taken into slavery in Algiers in the 1600s. Lots of things seem improbable and then turn out to have been true. It has a strong sense of place, both in Iceland and in Algiers. A brilliant portrait of people's different ways of reacting to being torn away from lives and loves. How people adapt to circumstances and build lives with whatever they are given. Levels of resilience.

I'm not sure what I thought of the writing though, it was a little stilted and try-hard and a little bit like chick lit (lots to read into re. why that makes it less worthy - because female?) I much preferred the way the afterword was written, very engaging and made me think that  a first draft might have read better.

Let Us Now Praise Famous Gardens, Vita Sackville-West

I bought a small collection of these gorgeous editions in a Bristol charity shop a few years ago and am just getting round to reading them. Mostly bought for their beauty and the range of cosy and very British themes, they are lovely snapshots in time. 

This one is a collection of Sackville-West's gardening columns for The Observer, which she wrote for 15 years. It is certainly from a different time, there is one entry 40 years to the day before I was born, nevertheless it is a lovely read, full of gardening advice as well as snapshots of the writer's triumphs, failures and imaginings, and descriptions of her neighbours' gardens, or those she has seen. It's all very light-hearted and friendly in tone and is definitely something to read if you've just acquired a garden and need some inspiration. I'm lamenting the lack of space on my balcony for a quince or almond tree.