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What is a good name worth when a country's silver rests in your hands?
In Joseph Conrad's Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard, the port of Sulaco lies between mountains and a still gulf. Here, in the invented republic of Costaguana, Charles Gould looks to his San Tomé silver mine to bring order. Around him, financiers, soldiers and sailors seek the wealth and protection it promises.
Then a military revolt overthrows President Ribiera, and revolution threatens Sulaco. The port turns to Nostromo, an Italian sailor whose reputation is his greatest pride. Charged with carrying silver out of the harbour, he faces a task that puts everyone's trust in him at stake. Meanwhile, Emilia Gould watches the mine consume her husband's attention.
What you’ll discover
- A name under pressure Follow a trusted sailor whose hunger for praise makes honour a troubling question.
- Silver at the centre Explore how one mine draws a whole society into its promises of wealth and order.
- Revolution by the sea Enter a sheltered port where distant political upheaval brings danger to the harbour.
- The cost of conviction Watch Charles Gould's pursuit of justice strain against the demands of his mine.
- A narrative Discover a story told through shifting voices and time, with deeper moral puzzles.
Who will love it
Readers who love sea stories, political intrigue and richly drawn places will enjoy this book. It suits anyone curious about revolutions, silver, loyalty and reputation.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Silver puts character to the test
- Treasure keeps its own prisoners
- Nostromo earns the trust of others
- Praise may be Nostromo's true payment
- Gould makes the mine his purpose
- The mine creates hope and power
- Love draws Decoud into politics
- The silver becomes a dangerous burden
- Reputation can rule like wealth
Who’s who
- NostromoThe Genoese foreman of the Sulaco dockworkers, admired and feared, who wants above all to be well spoken of.
- Charles GouldThe English-looking Costaguanero who runs the San Tome silver mine and is determined to turn his father's ruin into success.
- Emilia GouldHis wife, the gracious first lady of Sulaco, who hopes the mine will bring justice and peace.
- Martin DecoudA doubting, witty journalist from Paris who is drawn into politics by his love for Antonia.
- Giorgio ViolaAn old Garibaldian who keeps an inn near the harbour and lives for liberty and his daughters.
- Doctor MonyghamThe bitter English physician who is secretly and fiercely loyal to Mrs Gould.
- Captain MitchellThe pompous but kindly local steamship superintendent, proud of his discovery of the Capataz.
- Antonia AvellanosThe serious, learned daughter of a statesman, who believes in her country and in Decoud.
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Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard
by Joseph Conrad · 1904
A Genoese sailor guards a mountain of silver in a country that changes governments like seasons.
Challenging10–20 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What happens to a good man when a mountain of silver decides the fate of a whole country? Nostromo opens on a calm gulf, a cursed peninsula and a legend of two ghostly treasure hunters who cannot leave their gold.
Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard at a glance
- Reading time
- About 11 h 10 min8 h 55 min fast, 13 h 20 min slow
- Length
- 159,800 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1904by Joseph Conrad
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A calm gulf, a cursed rock, a legend
The book begins with a place before it gives a single person. Sulaco lies on the Golfo Placido, a wide gulf shaped like an enormous roofless temple open to the ocean. High mountains form its walls, draped in clouds like mourning cloth. No strong wind has ever been known to blow across its waters.
At one end the coast runs out in a low cape called Punta Mala. At the other lies the peninsula of Azuera, a wild jumble of sharp rocks with no water and hardly any soil. Poor people say it is cursed, and that heaps of gold lie in its deep precipices. Many adventurers are said to have died looking for it.
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Details
- First published
- 1904
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 12 h 30 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Conrad, Joseph. Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard.
Conrad, J. (2026). Nostromo: A tale of the seaboard. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard (Original work published 1904)
Conrad, Joseph. Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard.
@book{conrad2026nostromo,
author = {Conrad, Joseph},
title = {Nostromo: A Tale of the Seaboard},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/nostromo-a-tale-of-the-seaboard},
note = {First published 1904}
}
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What is Nostromo about?
It tells of a silver mine in the invented South American republic of Costaguana and the people tied to it. Revolution, a railway and a daring boat journey with the silver shape the story of a sailor called Nostromo.
Where does the name Nostromo come from?
It is what the English in Sulaco call the Italian foreman. Captain Mitchell's mispronunciation gave the sailor the name that Sulaco's Europeans habitually use. His own people use his real name, Giovanni Battista.
Is Nostromo a true story?
No. Costaguana and Sulaco are invented, though Conrad drew on real revolutions and a story he heard as a young sailor about a stolen boatload of silver. He published the novel in 1904.
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).
“We never make mistakes.”
More by Joseph Conrad
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