Penguin Classics: Victory: An Island Tale

‘His fastidious soul, which even at that moment kept the true cry of love from his lips’

Axel Heyst aims to drift through life in solitude, believing he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from humanity’s passions and delusions. Then, living on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, he rescues a young English girl escaping from a man who is infatuated with her. As she, in turn, tries to save Heyst from isolation, their affair comes under threat from the brutal violence of outsiders. Conrad’s last great novel, featuring one of his most fascinating heroes, Victory is a psychological thriller, a tragic romance and a commentary on the lies that we tell ourselves.

Edited by Robert Hampton
With a new introduction by John Gray