4 h 30 minAudiobook9 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
The wind will not come, the crew falls ill, and a young captain must discover what command demands.
In Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow Line, a restless young officer leaves a good post without knowing why. With quiet guidance from the shrewd Captain Giles, he finds his way toward a first command. In Bangkok, a handsome sailing ship awaits him, carrying the troubled memory of her dead captain.
Once the ship heads into the Gulf of Siam, weak winds and fever turn promise into a trial. Mr. Burns, the feverish first mate, fears a curse. Ransome, a capable steward with a weak heart, offers steady support. The unnamed narrator must face his own fear while taking responsibility for the men aboard.
What you’ll discover
- A first command Feel the young captain’s joy give way to the weight of other lives.
- A sea without wind Enter the hot, becalmed Gulf, where waiting becomes a test of courage.
- A troubling shadow Follow Mr. Burns’s fear as the dead captain’s memory unsettles life aboard.
- Quiet strength beside fear Meet Ransome, whose calm support gives the captain something firm to hold.
- Youth seen from experience Discover how an older narrator looks back on his younger self’s passage into responsibility.
Who will love it
For readers who enjoy sea stories, short and intense novels, and tales of responsibility and coming of age, with duty, fear and a touch of the uncanny.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A young man leaves a good post
- An unexpected offer of a ship
- A ship that carries a dead captain's shadow
- Calm, fever and a crew falling ill
- What the story says about responsibility and youth
- How Conrad tells it and what to watch
Who’s who
- The narratorA young officer who gives up a good post without knowing why, then takes his first command and must prove himself at sea.
- Captain GilesAn old, shrewd sailor at the Officers' Home who watches the young man and quietly guides him toward the ship.
- Mr. BurnsThe ship's first mate, thin and feverish, who is haunted by the memory of the dead captain and fears the ship is cursed.
- RansomeThe steward, a calm and capable man with a weak heart, who gives the captain steady and quiet support.
- The dead captainThe ship's former master, a strange and unhappy man whose memory troubles the crew long after he is gone.
- Mr. HamiltonThe harbour official in the Eastern port who has the power to put the young man in command of the ship.
Formats and delivery
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- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 4 h 30 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
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- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
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- Large print paperback
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- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
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The Shadow Line
by Joseph Conrad · 1917
A young captain takes his first command as fever grips his crew and a dead calm tests his courage.
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From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1 of 6
A young man leaves a good post
The story opens with the narrator in a state of restless dissatisfaction. He is a young officer, and he has a decent berth as first mate on a steamer in an Eastern port. Yet he suddenly resigns, and he cannot give a sound reason, even to himself. He speaks of a mood that comes to the young, a moment when everything seems stale and the days ahead look empty.
The captain of the steamer is surprised and a little hurt. He asks what has gone wrong, and the narrator can only say that he wants to be off. The captain has treated him fairly, and the reader sees that the decision is more feeling than argument. The narrator is chasing something he cannot name. Conrad treats this with sympathy and a touch of irony, because the older narrator remembers how sure he felt and how little he understood.
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What is The Shadow Line about?
It tells of a young sea officer who quits a good post, is offered his first command and must bring a troubled, fever-struck ship through a dead calm. It is about duty, fear and the end of youth.
What does the shadow line mean in Conrad's book?
It is a boundary a person passes when youth ends and the weight of adult responsibility begins. Conrad treats it like a line at sea, crossed quietly, after which life no longer feels the same.
Is The Shadow Line based on a true story?
Conrad drew on his own experience as a ship's officer in the East, including his first command. The tale is fiction, though it rests on real seafaring detail. It was published in 1917.
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).
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