Parallel Pages: The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi
Parallel Pages is our blog post series where we use a recent favourite read as a springboard to explore other books in the shop. This week, Returns Co-Ordinator Zoë is shining a light on The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty (who we will be welcoming to the shop very soon!)
The audiobook of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is one of my favourite audiobooks of all time. I usually don’t make such bold claims when it comes to favourite books (there are far too many!) but this is one I’m very comfortable making because I recently re-listened to it via Libro.fm and had even more fun than the first time around.
In case you didn’t know, Libro.fm is an audiobook service that allows you to support independent bookshops with every purchase. They have a catalogue of over 600,000 audiobooks, are a certified B Corporation, and support over 4,000 independent bookshops worldwide. In short, we’re big fans! To find out more and check out some of our recommended listens click here.
The narrative of The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafiis framed as Amina, a notorious pirate, telling the story of the job that brought her out of retirement and into a world of forbidden artefacts, strange magic, and new realms. It is one thing to read the interruptions and asides in the physical book, but it is quite another to listen to Lameece Issaq and Amin El Gamal perform them and to be totally swept away onto the high seas with Amina and her crew. For more pirates, adventure, and brilliant female protagonists, here are some ideas of where to head next in your reading:
If you’re a fantasy fan and are yet to discover the joy of a Robin Hobb novel, then please take this as your sign to get reading as soon as possible. The Liveship Traders trilogy, beginning with Ship of Magic, follows the Vestrit family and their relationship with their magical liveship Vivacia as they fight to keep the family business alive. Just like Amina, a core part of Althea Vestrit’s identity is being on her ship, and the way her and her family’s story unravels over the course of the trilogy is enthralling. The series has some of the best character development in literature and I can't recommend it highly enough.
A lot of my exposure to pirates comes via fantasy literature and film, so it’s easy to romanticise a life of piracy. The Penguin Book of Pirates will no doubt put a stop to that. A compilation of real-life accounts, trial notes, and various other sources, this book promises to go beyond the stereotypical depictions of swashbuckling quests to highlight the harrowing realities of piracy and of lives lived beyond borders and boundaries.
Amina Al-Sirafi is rooted in historical reality, offering a new perspective of the Crusades from the point of view of those living in the Islamic world. Similarly, Saltwater by Francesca de Tores gives voice to one of the few known female pirates, Mary Read, through fictionalising her life. From being disguised as her dead brother so that her mother can continue taking the inheritance money to the reinvention of herself as a pirate, this is a novel about freedom and identity and the call of the sea.
One of my favourite things about The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is its framing as a story told to a scribe writing Amina’s biography. Lady Trent in A Natural History of Dragons is writing her memoirs and reflecting on a life of determined pursuit of scientific knowledge and shattering gender norms with all the wisdom that comes from having lived a long life. This series has been on my radar for a while but it wasn’t until recently that I found out about the faux-memoir style, so it’s been bumped up the ever-growing to-be-read pile!
Of course, the best place to go after reading The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is straight onto the next in the series, The Tapestry of Fate. Following Amina and her crew as they continue their quest, I have no doubt that this instalment will be just as adventurous and exciting as book one with even higher stakes and even more drama. And, if you order before 4th June, you can get a signed and dedicated copy!
We are so incredibly excited to be welcoming Shannon Chakraborty to the shop on Thursday 4th June to talk with Hannah Kaner about all things magic, adventure, and pirates. Grab a ticket to attend in-person whilst you still can, or sign up to join us on the livestream.
