Toilers of the Sea

Toilers of the Sea is the English translation of Les Travailleurs de la mer, the title of a novel by Victor Hugo. The book is dedicated to the Islanders of Guernsey, whom Hugo describes in the introduction as "The noble little people of the sea". The story concerns a Guernseyman named Gilliatt, and deals with both his physical trials and tribulations, as well as the undeserved opprobrium of his neighbours. Like The Book of Ebenezer le Page by GB Edwards. the author uses the setting of a small island community to transmute seemingly mundane events into drama of the highest calbre. Les Travailleurs de la Mer is set just after the Napoleonic Wars, and also deals with the impact of the Industrial Revolution upon the Island.

It resembles Robinson Crusoe, being about a sailor trapped on an island.