This compact novel, completed in 1900, as with so many of the great novels of the time, is at its baseline a book of the sea. An English boy in a simple town has dreams bigger than the outdoors and embarks at an early age into the sailor\'s life. The waters he travels reward him with the ability to explore the human spirit, while Joseph Conrad launches the story into both an exercise of his technical prowess and a delicately crafted picture of a character who reaches the status of a literary hero.The hero of this book suffers from a guilty conscience brought on by cowardice. Nevertheless, as the story progresses, the reader can identify and sympathize with his very human actions in difficult circumstances and will him to find a way for absolution. The journey this man embarks on is actually courageous but fate is against him and whatever adventure befalls him and how many times his courage saves himself and others, the publicity of his past mistakes never dies until one day, thinking he is safe from further recriminations, he makes a promise...--Submitted by Anonymous.