THE FOLIO SOCIETY

On an isolated, palm-fringed island in the Malay archipelago, Axel Heyst, a disillusioned Swede, has done his best to detach himself from human contract. He is briefly the manager of the soon defunct Tropical Belt Coal Company, and lives in its crumbling headquarters on the island of Samburan.

On a rare visit to Java, however, he chivalrously rescues a young woman, and makes himself enemies in the process. Violent conflict brews on the horizon as a a trio of malevolent Europeans - including the sinister, misogynistic Mr Jones - come to exact revenge on the Swede and his devoted mistress, spurred on by rumours of a hidden fortune. Conrad's novel is both a gripping cat-and-mouse thriller and also a clever psychological drama; one that poses the quiet, cerebral Heyst against the personification of humanity at its worst, and takes place against a backdrop of sea-spray, volcanoes, and tropical heat.