Summary

In Vardø, Maren dreams of a beached whale on the rocks outside her house. She climbs down the cliff and rests on its body, wrapping her arms around it. The men come to the whale and begin to destroy it, pouring its blubber into lamps. Maren dreams that her arms grow wide and protective over the whale even as it is killed. Maren sinks down to the ocean floor, drowning, and smelling and tasting burning blubber. She awakens with the feeling of drowning.

In the first chapter, a storm arrives in the afternoon of Christmas Eve. Maren, her Mamma, and her sister-in-law Diinna are inside near the fire, repairing a sail. Maren looks out at her Pappa and brother Erik’s boat, recalling that a whale was seen near the shore earlier in the morning, though Pappa had reassured her...