Жиліат the fisherman is a loser. He lives alone in a house standing on a sharp spur of a long rocky spit. People in the village think he’s a strange oddball. Ever since he saw how Deryushet, the shipowner’s niece, wrote his name in the snow (which on Guernsey is extremely rare), he can’t stop thinking about the girl—and to win her love, he enters a dramatic and terrifying battle with the forces of nature.
Impressive, saturated seascapes, a conflict between superstition and the modern world, and Zhilіat, who—like Hercules—performs his feats in the name of love—all of this is united in Victor Hugo’s novel, which earned recognition even during his lifetime and became one of his best works.