Victory

I am glad that I am alive if for no other reason because of the joy of reading this book.-Jack London. First published in 1915 Victory follows the character Axel Heyst a Swede who renounces the world and lives on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago. He is shaken from his self-imposed isolation however after a chance encounter with Lena a young Englishwoman in a touring ladies orchestra. Axel comes to her aid when she is accosted by a loutish hotel owner. They seek refuge on his island and Axel begins to see the value of life as a relationship with Lena unfolds. All too soon however three men set on revenge for the hotel owner arrive on the island. The events that follow spiral into a devastating tragedy and Conrad ultimately compels readers to decide on what constitutes defeat or victory in this characteristically descriptive powerful narrative. Annotation Now a major motion picture from Miramax starring Sam Neill and Willem Defoe Victory takes place in 1913 in the Dutch East Indies and tells the story of one mans battle for the woman he loves and the tragedy it leaves in its wake. About The Author: Joseph Conrad (originally J??zef Teodor Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) was born in the Ukraine in 1857 and grew up under Tsarist autocracy. His parents ardent Polish patriots died when he was a child following their exile for anti-Russian activities and he came under the protection of his tradition-conscious uncle Thaddeus Bobrowski who watched over him for the next twenty-five years. In 1874 Bobrowski conceded to his nephews passionate desire to go to sea and Conrad travelled to Marseilles where he served in French merchant vessels before joining a British ship in 1878 as an apprentice. In 1886 he obtained British nationality and his Masters certificate in the British Merchant Service. Eight years later he left the sea to devote himself to writing publishing his first novel Almayers Folly in 1895. The following year he married Jes