VICTORY, An Island Tale

This is Joseph Conrad's Victory, aka Victory, An Island Tale, which was originally published in 1915. This book was his first success. It has been adapted into films five times, most recently in 1995. Harold Pinter wrote a screenplay for it in 1982; the film was not made but, in 2015, the BBC adapted that screenplay for radio.

Story: Axel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life. Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love.

This copy is very plain, an orange/brown cloth-bound book with gold lettering/design on the spine. It is 328 pages and in perfect condition, except that its original owner, a student at the University of Saskatchewan, wrote notes to herself on six pages, at the back. She also wrote her name on the front endpaper.

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