Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 0689861761, Hardcover)

mediæval Ireland -- but all of this is lost the day she is kidnapped

and taken aboard a marauding slave ship. Thrown into a world that she has

never known, alongside people that her former country's laws regarded as

less than human, Melkorka is forced to learn quickly how to survive.

Taking a vow of silence, however, she finds herself an object of

fascination to her captors and masters, and soon realizes that any power,

no matter how little, can make a difference.

Based on an ancient Icelandic saga, award-winning author Donna Jo Napoli

has crafted a heartbreaking story of a young girl who must learn to forget

all that she knows and carve out a place for herself in a new world -- all

without speaking a word.