The Toilers of the Sea tells the fairytale-esque story of Gilliatt, an outcast fisherman who must rescue an engine from a wrecked steamship. If successful, he will win the hand of the shipowner’s beautiful daughter, Deruchette. He will brave the harsh rocks, the freezing waves, and even the grasp of a sea monster to prove his worth. A richly detailed study of early nineteenth-century Guernsey, The Toilers of the Sea is the oft-forgotten novel that completes a trilogy with Hugo’s famed The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Les Miserables. It is a tribute to the drama of nature and the insignificance of man against it, to solitude in exile, and the light we choose to carry in the darkness.
