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Audiobook edition · 8 h 1 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when a captain’s hardest choice is one no order can settle?
Joseph Conrad’s 'Twixt Land & Sea brings together three long tales of ships, harbours and private doubts. In A Smile of Fortune, a young captain searches for cargo in a tropical port. Alfred Jacobus offers a deal involving potatoes, but the offer draws the captain into a strange household, where Jacobus’s daughter Alice stirs his curiosity.
In The Secret Sharer, a captain on his first command hides Leggatt in his cabin, keeping him out of sight of the crew. Freya of the Seven Isles turns to the Malay seas, where Freya Nelson loves Captain Jasper Allen and draws the admiration of Dutch lieutenant Heemskirk. Across these stories, work, loneliness and desire put private choices under pressure.
What you’ll discover
- A troubling business offer Follow a search for cargo into a household the young captain cannot fully understand.
- A stranger in hiding Feel the strain of concealment as a captain keeps Leggatt hidden from his crew.
- Love among the islands Meet spirited Freya, her proud English suitor, and the Dutch lieutenant who resents him.
- The sea as work Enter ships and harbours where earning a living brings doubts, temptations and uneasy dealings.
- Choices without neat morals Settle into slow, brooding tales that leave room for uncertainty rather than easy answers.
Who will love it
You will enjoy this book if you love sea stories with quiet suspense, sharp portraits of odd characters, tropical harbors, and tales where one private choice shapes a whole life.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A stranger arrives before the captain's breakfast
- Two brothers who have not spoken for years
- The quarter-bags and the walled garden
- A cold swimmer climbs the night ladder
- The mate's story and a hidden guest
- The visiting captain and the long game of nerves
- A plan to leave the ship near land
- A girl, a piano and a white brig
- A jealous Dutchman, a slap and a promise
- Pride, duty and good sense in the three tales
- How Conrad tells these tales
Who’s who
- JacobusA large, sleepy ship chandler who calls on the captain at breakfast and always promises that everything will be quite correct.
- AliceJacobus's daughter, secluded in a garden and dressed in a flimsy wrapper, who speaks in a harsh, contemptuous voice.
- LeggattA young chief mate who has killed a man in a storm and swims to a strange ship rather than face trial.
- The young captainA new captain, a stranger to his ship, who hides Leggatt in his cabin and feels that they are one.
- Freya NelsonA fair, capable young woman on a Dutch-ruled island who plans to marry Jasper Allen and live aboard his brig.
- Jasper AllenThe reckless, devoted captain of the white brig Bonito, who counts the days until Freya's twenty-first birthday.
- HeemskirkA thick-set Dutch naval lieutenant who commands a small gunboat and wants Freya for himself.
- Old NelsonFreya's timid father, a Dane living on a small island, who fears Dutch authorities and fails to understand his daughter.
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Entre tierra y mar
by Joseph Conrad · 1912
A chandler invites himself to breakfast, a bare swimmer scales a ladder at night, and a brig nears a rocky barrier.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEspañol
Excellent
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In short
Picture a young captain who comes out of his cabin after sixty-one days at sea and finds a stranger waiting to breakfast with him. The man has brought eggs, sausages and real potatoes, and he asks politely for coffee.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A stranger arrives before the captain's breakfast
The first tale opens as a young captain brings his barque to a sugar island he calls the Pearl of the Ocean. He has come for a cargo and hopes the freight rates are high. At morning the steward announces that a gentleman is waiting.
The gentleman is Alfred Jacobus, a large, pale, sleepy-eyed man who deals in ship's stores. He has risen before six, waited on the quay and loaded the captain's table with shore food. He gives the captain the names of every ship in port and shares harbor gossip, in a low voice, with a face that shows nothing.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1912
- Language
- Español
- Reading time
- 5 h 10 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Conrad, Joseph. 'Twixt Land & Sea. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/twixt-land-sea.
Conrad, J. (2026). 'Twixt land & sea. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/twixt-land-sea (Original work published 1912)
Conrad, Joseph. 'Twixt Land & Sea. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/twixt-land-sea.
@book{conrad2026twixt,
author = {Conrad, Joseph},
title = {'Twixt Land \& Sea},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/twixt-land-sea},
note = {First published 1912}
}
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What is 'Twixt Land and Sea about?
It gathers three sea tales by Joseph Conrad. A Smile of Fortune follows a captain and a ship chandler in a sugar port. The Secret Sharer hides a fugitive in a cabin. Freya of the Seven Isles tells of a brig, a girl and a jealous naval officer.
What does the title of The Secret Sharer mean?
The secret sharer is Leggatt, the fugitive whom the young captain hides in his cabin. He shares the captain's clothes, room and secret, and he seems to be the captain's double. The word sharer points to this closeness between two men.
Who is Jacobus in A Smile of Fortune?
Alfred Jacobus is a ship chandler, a seller of supplies to ships, who boards the captain's vessel at breakfast. He is calm, polite and persistent, and he is shunned by respectable townspeople. His brother Ernest is a wealthy merchant with whom he has not spoken for years.
The author
Joseph Conrad
1857–1924 · Polish-British novelist
Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) was a Polish-British writer born in Berdychiv, then in the Russian Empire and now in Ukraine. He worked at sea before settling in England. He wrote in English. His works include Heart of Darkness (1899), Lord Jim (1900), Nostromo (1904), and The Secret Agent (1907).
More by Joseph Conrad
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