HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'They swarmed numerous like locusts, industrious like ants, thoughtless like a natural force, pushing on blind and orderly and absorbed, impervious to sentiment, to logic — to terror, too, perhaps.' Considered one of Conrad's most political works, The Secret Agent is set against the dismal backdrop of a drab and alienating London, and tells the story of the bombing of Greenwich Observatory by a group of anarchists. Shopkeeper, spy and reluctant anarchist Mr Verloc becomes embroiled in this terrorist plot, exploiting his mentally disabled brother-in-law Stevie in the process, leading to tragic circumstances.

«This title includes an Introduction and Notes by John Lester, formerly Head of English at Havering College of Further and Higher Education. From the rain forests of Almayer's Folly to the Mediterranean coast of «The Rover», Conrad's first and final completed novels are played out against contrasting backgrounds. Almayer, in Borneo, is hopelessly obsessed by his deluded dreams for himself and his daughter, which take no account of her falling in love with a handsome Balinese prince. Peyrol, the rover, returns to a France at war and finds the actions of those around him still overborne by memories of revolutionary terror. For the orphaned Lieutenant Real and Arlette love offers release but their romance seems doomed by the demands of his naval duties. Conrad's acute understanding of human psychology and its application across racial and ideological divides is the life-force of both stories. Publication date: 15 July 2011.»

Marlow, a merchant sailor, travels through colonial Africa. He makes a perilous journey by steamboat to rescue Kurtz, an agent, who is seriously ill. He arrives at Kurtz’s station to find that the agent has taken control of the whole area. In his complete isolation from civilized society Kurtz has instituted a brutal system of human sacrifice and magic to enthrall the natives.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'The reaches opened before us and closed behind, as if the forest had stepped leisurely across the water to bar the way for our return. We penetrated deeper and deeper into the heart of darkness.' At the peak of European Imperialism, steamboat captain Charles Marlow travels deep into the African Congo on his way to relieve the elusive Mr Kurtz, an ivory trader renowned for his fearsome reputation. On his journey into the unknown Marlow takes a terrifying trip into his own subconscious, overwhelmed by his menacing, perilous and horrifying surroundings. The landscape and the people he meets force him to reflect on human nature and society, and in turn Conrad writes revealingly about the dangers of imperialism.

Resting one night on a boat on the River Thames, Charlie Marlow tells his friends about his experiences as a steamboat captain on the River Congo. There, in the heart of Africa, his search for the extraordinary Mr Kurtz caused him to question his own nature and values and the nature and values of his society.

«Typhoon», «Falk», «Amy Foster», «The Secret Sharer» The four tales in this volume share autobiographical origins in Conrad's experience at sea and his exile from Poland, the country of his birth. 'Typhoon' is the story of a steamship and her crew beset by tempest, and of the stolid captain whose dogged courage is tested to the limit. In 'Falk' a taciturn young woman is bizarrely courted by a tug-boat master who is haunted by a terrible secret. 'Amy Foster' tells of an emigrant Pole struggling to overcome isolation and prejudice in England. The final tale, 'The Secret Sharer', is Conrad's most famous short story, a masterpiece of suspense and ambiguity. Giving sanctuary to a fugitive sailor, a young sea-captain risks his ship and his command in order to save him. This revised edition uses the English first edition texts and has a new chronology and bibliography.»

A hundred years ago a seaman's life was full of danger, but Jim, the first mate on board the Patna, is not afraid of danger. He is young, strong, confident of his bravery. He dreams of great adventures — and the chance to show the world what a hero he is. But the sea is no place for dreamers. When the chance comes, on a calm moonlit night in the Indian Ocean, Jim fails the test, and his world falls to pieces around him. He disappears into the jungles of south-east Asia, searching for a way to prove himself, once and for all...

Resting one night on a boat on the River Thames, Charlie Marlow tells his friends about his experiences as a steamboat captain on the River Congo. There, in the heart of Africa, his search for the extraordinary Mr Kurtz caused him to question his own nature and values – and the nature and values of his society.

Jim is a young British officer on the passenger ship Patna. During an accident at sea in the Indian Ocean, Jim follows the captain and abandons the sinking ship and its passengers. Jim must face a court trial for this act of cowardice, which will torment him all his life. At the trial Jim meets Marlow, an older sea captain, who helps him find work. But Jim is always restless. He moves to Malaysia where he tries to start a new life.

Introduction, notes and activities by Dorothea Barret In the second half of the 19th century, the British Empire, was at its greatest. Imperialism left a lasting mark on Great Britain itself as well as on the ex-colonies. The atmosphere and issues of this bygone age are evoked in Empire Tales, an anthology of stories by some of the most outstanding British writers of the 19th and 20th centuries, Joseph Conrad, E.M. Forster, Ruyard Kipling, W. Somerset Maugham, George Orwell and Jean Rhys.

An impenetrable mystery seems destined to hang for ever over this act of madness or despair. Mr Verloc, the secret agent, keeps a shop in London's Soho where he lives with his wife Winnie, her infirm mother, and her idiot brother, Stevie. When Verloc is reluctantly involved in an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Observatory things go disastrously wrong, and what appears to be a simple tale proves to involve politicians, policemen, foreign diplomats and London's fashionable society in the darkest and most surprising interrelations. This new edition includes a critical introduction which describes Conrad's great London novel as the realization of a monstrous town, a place of idiocy, madness, criminality and butchery.

Lord Jim, first published in 1900, confirmed Conrad's place in literature as one of the first 'modernists' of English letters. Set in the Malay Archipelago, not only does the novel provide a gripping account of maritime adventure and romance, but also an exotic tale of the East. Nostromo is the only man capable of the decisive action needed to save the silver of the San Tome mine and secure independence for Sulaco, Occidental Province of the Latin American state of Costaguana. Is his integrity as unassailable as everyone believes, or will his ideals, like those which have inspired the struggling state itself, buckle under economic and political pressure? The Secret Agent, Conrad's story of espionage and anarchists, tells of Winnie Verloc and her devotion to her peculiar and simple-minded brother, Stevie. Its savagely witty themes of human absurdity and misunderstanding are written in an ironic style that provokes both laughter and unease. This volume also includes a selection of Conrad's matchless short stories — Youth, Typhoon, Heart of Darkness, The End of the Tether and The Shadow-Line.

In the imaginary South American republic of Costaguana, Charles Gould's San Tomé silver mine is besieged by rebels, in this 1904 novel by the author of Heart of Darkness and Lord Jim. Gould recruits the allegedly incorruptible hero Nostromo to oppose the marauders, but Nostromo's own mistakes may have disastrous repercussions. Conrad's novel portrays in shocking detail the corrupting influence of money, the devious effects of greed, and the lure of silver and its power over men — destroying some and revealing the strengths of others.

This specially commissioned selection of Conrad's short stories includes favourites such as Youth, a modern epic of the sea; The Secret Sharer, a thrilling psychological drama; An Outpost of Progress, a blackly comic prelude to Heart of Darkness; Amy Foster, a moving story of a shipwrecked, alienated Pole; and The Lagoon and Karain, two exotic, exciting Malay tales. Il Conde and The Tale are subtle portrayals of bewildered outrage; An Anarchist and The Informer are sardonic depictions of revolutionaries; and Prince Roman is a tale of magnificent, doomed heroism set in Conrad's native Poland during the Uprising of 1831.

«As these three specially commissioned stories amply demonstrate, Conrad is our greatest writer of the sea. His characters are tested by dramatic events 'that show in the light of day the inner worth of a man, the edge of his temper, and the fibre of his stuff; that reveal the quality of his resistance and the secret stuff of his pretences, not only to others but also to himself'. In «Typhoon», Conrad's funniest story, Captain MacWhirr blunders into a hurricane that reveals the sea's treachery, violence and terror. «Falk» is desperate to get married, but first he must tell of his terrible experiences as sole survivor of a stricken ship that once drifted into the ice-caps of Antarctica. «The Shadow-Line» is a poignant and beautiful story. Written during the First World War and based on Conrad's fond evocation of his own first command, it expresses his solidarity with all who were obliged to cross in early youth the shadow-line of their war-torn generation. It includes a glossary of nautical terms.»

Heart of Darkness is a chilling tale of horror which, as the author intended, is capable of many interpretations. Set in the Congo during the period of rapid colonial expansion in the 19th century, the story deals with the highly disturbing effects of economic, social and political exploitation of European and African societies and the cataclysmic behaviour this induced in some individuals.

First published in 1900, Lord Jim established Conrad as one of the great storytellers of the twentieth century. Set in the Malay Archipelago, the novel not only provides a gripping account of maritime adventure and romance, but also an exotic tale of the East. Its themes also challenge the conventions of nineteenth-century adventure fiction, confirming Conrad’s place in literature as one of the first ‘modernists’ of English letters. Lord Jim explores the dilemmas of conscience, of moral isolation, of loyalty and betrayal confronting a sensitive individual whose romantic quest for an honourable ideal are tested to the limit.

Mr Verloc, the secret agent, has a shop in London. He lives there peacefully with his wife Winnie, her mother and her brother, Stevie. When Mr Verloc becomes involved with an anarchist plot to blow up the Greenwich Royal Observatory, things go disastrously wrong. Mr Verloc’s job as a secret agent leads to tragic consequences for him and all his family.