The young Eskimo hunter Tikta'liktak is carried to sea one day on a drifting ice floe and never expects to see his family or homeland again. With luck, and much daring, he reaches the rocky, uninhabited island of Sakkiak, where he resigns himself to die of starvation. In a trancelike sleep he dreams that the sea spirit sends him a seal to kill for food and, when he awakes, he finds that the sea spirit has indeed come to his aid. From that day on he takes hope and—though he still battles despair, wild animals, and the elements—he begins trying to find a way of reaching the mainland again. James Houston's retelling of this compelling saga vividly portrays the realities of survival in a harsh yet beautiful land.

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