In this magical evocation of a vanished age, a poet and self-taught healer is banished in 1635 to a barren island off Iceland - a place darkened by superstition, poverty and cruelty.

With only a purple sandpiper for company, Jonas Palmason retraces his path to exile, recalling his exorcism of a walking corpse, the massacre of innocent Basque whalers at the hands of local villagers and the deaths of three of his children.

But amid the cacophony of Copenhagen he will find hope and, finally, recognition of his enlightened ideas.