9 h 34 minAudiobook8 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 9 h 34 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when strength, duty, and good manners offer no protection against betrayal?
In A Set of Six, Joseph Conrad follows people under pressure, where justice rarely gives them what they deserve. Gaspar Ruiz takes you into the Chilean wars with a powerful soldier whose strength serves other people’s purposes. The Informer enters London’s revolutionary circles through the easy voice of Mr X. In The Brute, the merchant ship Apse Family carries a terrible reputation among seamen.
An Anarchist turns to Paul, a French mechanic on a remote South American estate, who rejects the label others give him. The Duel draws officers Armand D’Hubert and Gabriel Feraud into a feud during the Napoleonic wars. Il Conde follows a courteous older nobleman in Naples as quiet menace threatens his gentle world. Several tales reach you through speakers whose habits and blind spots shape what you hear.
What you’ll discover
- Strength in other hands Follow Gaspar Ruiz as opposing sides find uses for his immense physical power.
- Labels and hidden loyalties Enter the uncertain worlds of Mr X and Paul, where political labels conceal personal stories.
- A ship sailors fear Meet the Apse Family, a merchant vessel with a terrible name among seamen.
- A quarrel without rest Watch calm duty collide with fierce temper in the feud between D’Hubert and Feraud.
- Courtesy under threat Walk through Naples with the Count, whose gentle manners meet a quiet menace.
Who will love it
Readers who love short fiction with a bite, tales told by a witness at a dinner table or a bar, and Conrad's eye for pride, loyalty and the odd turns of human behavior.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A strong prisoner wins a young lieutenant's trust
- A ruined girl turns his devotion into revenge
- A collector of curiosities meets a famous revolutionary
- A staged raid hunts for a traitor among comrades
- A pub tale of a ship that kills
- A meek mechanic is branded an anarchist
- Two young hussars begin a duel that will not stop
- Napoleon's wars carry the feud across Europe
- A gentle count suffers an insult he cannot forget
Who’s who
- General SantierraAn old Chilean veteran who tells the story of Gaspar Ruiz to his guests, remembering when he was a young lieutenant.
- Gaspar RuizA peasant soldier of enormous strength and obedient mind, who wants only to prove he is not a traitor and to please the woman who shelters him.
- Doña ErminiaA ruined Royalist's daughter whose pride turns to hatred of the patriots, and who draws Gaspar Ruiz toward revenge.
- Mr XA calm, elegant revolutionary writer who tells a collector how he hunted an informer in a London anarchist house.
- NedA young officer who joins the ship Apse Family beside his brother, and tells her story in a pub years later.
- PaulA Parisian mechanic branded an anarchist and kept as engineer on a cattle island, who longs only to sleep in peace.
- D'HubertA cool, kind hussar officer who is dragged into a duel with a fellow officer and cannot get out of it.
- FeraudA fiery Gascon hussar who takes offense easily, loves the Emperor and fights D'Hubert across the years.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 9 h 34 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 8 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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A Set of Six
by Joseph Conrad · 1908
A convict, an anarchist, a runaway ship and two hussars who cannot stop fighting share one book of six tales.
Medium level5–10 hours to read25 languages
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In short
A strong man bends iron bars to give thirsty prisoners a drink. Two hussars fight duels for years over a quarrel they keep to themselves.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A strong prisoner wins a young lieutenant's trust
The first story, Gaspar Ruiz, is told by General Santierra, an old man who entertains foreign naval officers at home. He recalls the wars that freed Chile and Peru from Spain. At the center of his memory stands Gaspar Ruiz, a peasant with a huge body and a gentle, obedient mind.
The young Lieutenant Santierra, seventeen and new to war, finds Ruiz among prisoners condemned to be shot at sunset. They are locked in a stifling guardroom and beg for water. The cruel adjutant keeps the key and sleeps. Ruiz asks the lieutenant to cut the ropes from his wrists, then bends the window bars with his hands and feet. He sits on the sill and holds a bucket, giving each man a drink and kicking away anyone who takes too much.
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What is A Set of Six about?
It collects six short stories by Joseph Conrad: Gaspar Ruiz, The Informer, The Brute, An Anarchist, The Duel and Il Conde. They cover war in South America, revolutionaries, a ship with a deadly record, a feud between officers and an insult in Naples.
Which story in A Set of Six is the longest?
The Duel is the longest. It follows two French hussar officers, Feraud and D'Hubert, who fight a series of duels through the Napoleonic wars. Conrad says it grew from a short newspaper paragraph about such a feud.
Is A Set of Six based on true events?
Conrad says the facts in all six stories are true in the sense that such things have really happened. Il Conde comes from a tale told to him in Italy, The Duel from a newspaper note, and Gaspar Ruiz from a travel book.
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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