Set on a remote and impoverished group of skerries in the early 20th century, the tale begins with a normal evening on the island. Someone out in a boat, a prayer meeting...a cursory introduction to the principal islanders. Yet even as life goes on, the people are becoming aware of something strange:
"But one evening it was not evening as usual. The sea was calm, unpleasantly calm, it seemed to them. It came further and further up over the high water-mark"

Then over the following chapters, we get the 'sagas' of some of the characters, their lives and personalities.... Helmer who has turned from organised religion; his disconsolate daughter-in-law, 'The Widow'; the unhappy life of Borghild; and Roald the wonder-child, whose early promise has come to nothing through a series of unwise choices.

Finally the storm breaks, the sea lashes the low-lying isles, but who will come out of this alive? Relationships change as the residents battle the elements.
I probably enjoyed the (often masterly) lifestories over and above the final disaster, but certainly well-written. ( )