In a small island community a young reclusive fisherman falls dangerously in love with a beautiful local girl. Her uncle, himself an intrepid seaman, owns a paddle-steamer which plies its trade to and from St Malo on the coast of Brittany. The vessel is wrecked on a remote reef in suspicious circumstances and our fisherman sets out alone to salvage the all important machinery, the steam engine itself. If he succeeds he will return home to the promised hand of the girl he daren't even talk to. Victor Hugo lived in Guernsey from 1855-70 during the reign of Napoleon the third as a political...