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In celebration of Independent Bookstore Day, shop our limited-time sale on bestselling audiobooks from April 22nd-28th. Don’t miss out—purchases support your local bookstore!
Shop nowWoman, Captain, Rebel
The Extraordinary True Story of a Daring Icelandic Sea Captain
Narrator
Ann Richardson
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Length
11 hours 34 minutes
Language
English
Bookseller recommendation
“Awesome. Thuridur was Iceland's first female punk, sea captain, woman to wear trousers, and all-around badass. She's the hero you didn't know you needed. Margaret Wilson did an excellent job researching this book learning from the people of Iceland. I listened on Libro.fm, but will also read a physical copy because I like to party.”
— Monica • Bright Side Bookshop
History would have us believe the sea has always been a male realm, the idea of female captains almost unthinkable. But there is one exception, so notable she defies any expectation.
This is her remarkable story.
Captain Thurídur, born in Iceland in 1777, lived a life that was both controversial and unconventional. Her first time fishing, on the open unprotected rowboats of her time, was at age eleven. Soon after, she audaciously began wearing trousers. She later became an acclaimed fishing captain brilliant at weather-reading and seacraft and consistently brought in the largest catches. In the Arctic seas where drownings occurred with terrifying regularity, she never lost a single crewmember. Renowned for her acute powers of observation, she also solved a notorious crime. In this extremely unequal society, she used the courts to fight for justice for the abused, and in her sixties, embarked on perilous journeys over trackless mountains.
Weaving together fastidious research and captivating prose, Margaret Willson reveals Captain Thurídur's fascinating story, her extraordinary courage, intelligence, and personal integrity.
Margaret Willson is a writer and cultural anthropologist. She has traveled extensively, working, doing research, or ethnographic film in Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Mongolia, Australia, New Zealand, Iceland . . . and a number of other places. She currently lives in Seattle with her partner and their cat, Mister.
Ann Richardson is an award-winning narrator. With a background of drama and music prevalent in her Midwestern upbringing, she delights in narrating fiction and portraying characters with a variety of accents, including Scandinavian and Southern U.S. Being of Swedish heritage is an important facet of Ann's life, as her father was a Swedish immigrant, and she travels to Sweden every few years to spend time with family and brush up on speaking the language. In her spare time Ann is a volunteer narrator for Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic), and also enjoys sculpting, painting, long-distance running, and hanging out with her family in Northern California.