Born in 1857 in Poland, Joseph Conrad became a British citizen just before he turned 30. In the intervening years he lost both parents; as an orphan aged 11 he was therefore raised by an uncle, who at 16 let the boy go to Marseille to work on merchant ships where the colourful life of the sea was further enhanced by stints gun running and, intriguingly, political conspiracy. At age 36 his life turned from one of ships to one of literary pursuit. In doing so Conrad brought to English Literature a further layer of style and a deeper examination of the human psyche in a wealth of work.

He wrote many novels, rightly regarded today, as some of the finest in English literature. Among their canon are Lord Jim, Nostromo, The Shadow Line and, of course, Heart Of Darkness. For this volume we dwell among his numerous short stories. In these condensed, narrative structures much is said in beautiful language.

His characters may be brave, comic, serious, trapped by their own constraints, or as in the Brute, the ship itself, but are always fully formed and true to his word.