Absalom Cornet comes to the tiny Arctic town of Vardø from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. He brings with him his young Norwegian wife, Ursa, who sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil.

Finnmark, Norway, 1617. Forty fishermen, including Maren Magnusdatter's brother and father, are drowned and left broken on the rocks below. The women of the tiny Arctic town of Vardø must fend for themselves. Three years later Absalom Cornet comes from Scotland, where he burned witches in the northern isles. His young Norwegian wife, Ursa, sees something she has never seen before: independent women. But Absalom sees only a place untouched by God, and flooded with a mighty evil. Maren and Ursa are drawn to one another in ways that surprise them both, but Absalom's iron rule threatening Vardø's very existence. -- adapted from jacket.