Victor Hugo wrote Toilers of the Sea while living on Guernsey, in the Channel Islands. It followed his extremely successful novel Les Misérables, both written there after exile from France for criticizing Napoleon’s 1851 coup d’état.
The themes of individual struggle and triumph over the wild forces of nature are easily seen as a corollary for the industrialization happening in the society of the time, but the novel also records the contemporary life, language, and superstitions of the Channel Islands.
The edition is based on the authorized translation of 1877 by William Moy Thomas.
This book is part of the Standard Ebooks project, which produces free public domain ebooks.