Sabrena Swept Away

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The author of the acclaimed A Bit of Earth reimagines classic characters from The One Thousand and One Nights. Sabrena’s family has always claimed they are descended from the legendary sailor Sinbad. But when the sea calls Sabrena to a whole new world, she’ll have to fight for her own story. For fans of The Last Mapmaker and Mañanaland.

This happened. Or maybe it did not. That is how stories begin. Because whether you believe them—or not—depends on you.

Sabrena’s destiny—her qadr—is strong. Or so her family has always said. After all, according to her dad, they are the descendants of the legendary Sinbad the sailor, who sailed the seven seas in The One Thousand and One Nights. But Sabrena has felt anything but strong lately. Mostly, she has felt worried. Worried about being the new girl in a school everyone else has attended since kindergarten, worried about Grandma’s memory failing and her stories getting more outlandish, worried about Mom deciding that Grandma can’t even live at home anymore. Worried about the strange—almost fantastical—things that keep happening whenever she’s around water lately.

And then, one day, the sea’s call will not be denied. It floods into her life and sweeps her away, to be fished out of an ocean both strange and oddly familiar. It only takes her a moment to realize that she’s in the stories spun by the legendary queen Scheherazade. Yet no one has ever heard of Sinbad, nothing seems to be going quite as it does in the tales as she knows them, and a frightening jinn is terrorizing the kingdom. Can Sabrena find the courage to claim her destiny before it’s too late

"A girl's destiny is linked to her heritage and her gift for storytelling. . . . Riazi's narrative features beautifully written, lyrical descriptions. The tale speaks to the power and connection found in stories, family, and emotions that arise in the face of loss and change." -- Kirkus Reviews

Karuna Riazi is a born and raised New Yorker. She is the author of The Gauntlet and its companion, The Battle. She holds a BA in English Literature from Hofstra University, and is an online diversity advocate, blogger, and educator. She is a 2017 honoree on NBC Asian America's Redefining A-Z list, featuring up-and-coming talent within the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community, and her work has been featured on Entertainment Weekly, Amy Poehler's Smart Girls, Book Riot, and Teen Vogue, among others. She has also adapted The Jungle Book for the Apple TV series Ghostwriter. She lives in Long Island, New York.

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