It started with fireballs raining down from the sky and crashing into the oceans' deeps. Then ships began sinking mysteriously and later 'sea tanks' emerged from the deeps to claim people. This book narrates how humankind responds to the threat of its own extinction and, ultimately, asks what we are prepared to do in order to survive.

When Mr Crawley, curate of Hogglestock, is falsely accused of theft he suffers bitterly with his family. Crawley is an ambiguous character however, and he himself seems to bring about most of his suffering.

The author travels across Russia, from crowded Moscow train to empty windswept villages, following in the footsteps of one extraordinary man, the dissident Orthodox priest Father Dmitry. In this book, he tells the story of a nation: famine, war, the frozen wastes of the Gulag, the collapse of communism and now, a people seeking oblivion.