Victory

Axel Heyst has spent his life keeping the world at arm’s length, following his dead father’s counsel to want nothing and risk nothing. That resolve breaks when he rescues Lena, a young musician trapped in a traveling orchestra and preyed on by a spiteful hotel keeper, and carries her off to his all but deserted island. Peace does not last. The hotel keeper, nursing a grudge, sends three drifting criminals after Heyst on the false promise of hidden money, and violence closes in on the couple’s refuge. Conrad published this island tale in 1915, weaving a taut story of love and menace around his lifelong doubts about detachment and the price of finally caring for someone. Free to download as a PDF or EPUB.