9 h 34 minAudiobook14 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 like short fiction with a sharp edge, tales of revolution, sea and soldiering told by a voice at a dinner table, and endings that make you think again.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Pity binds a soldier and lieutenant
- A rescue opens another path
- Strength becomes a weapon for resentment
- A staged raid tests revolutionary conviction
- A ship seems to choose victims
- A label can imprison a man
- An insult grows into a rivalry
- An encounter leaves an inward wound
- Good intentions do not control consequences
Who’s who
- Gaspar RuizA huge, obedient peasant soldier, condemned as a deserter, who wants his good name back and the favor of the woman who shelters him.
- General SantierraAn old Chilean general who tells the story of his youth, when pity for prisoners tied his fate to a strong man.
- Doña ErminiaA ruined Royalist's daughter, proud and bitter, who sees in Gaspar Ruiz a way to strike back at those who destroyed her family.
- Mr. XA quiet, elegant revolutionary writer who tells a collector of bronzes how he hunted a traitor in a London house.
- FeraudA short, hot-tempered Gascon hussar who takes offense easily and spends years seeking satisfaction against a fellow officer.
- D'HubertA tall, reasonable cavalry officer who wants only a sensible career and peace, but cannot shake off an angry rival.
- Paul the engineerA gentle Parisian mechanic, forced to work for a cattle company on a South American island, who wants only to sleep.
- Il CondeA refined elderly gentleman who lives for comfort on the Gulf of Naples and wants only freedom from pain.
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A Set of Six
by Joseph Conrad · 1908
A strong prisoner bends prison bars to bring thirsty men water, and a young lieutenant cannot forget him.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
A prisoner stands tied and thirsty in a fort courtyard at Valparaiso, condemned to be shot at sunset. A seventeen-year-old lieutenant cannot bear the sound of men begging for water.
A Set of Six at a glance
- Reading time
- About 5 h 35 min4 h 25 min fast, 6 h 40 min slow
- Length
- 79,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1908by 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 thirsty courtyard begins the tale of Gaspar Ruiz
The first story is told by General Santierra, an old man who entertains English naval officers in his garden in Chile. He remembers being a lieutenant of seventeen in the war of independence against Spain.
Gaspar Ruiz is a huge peasant soldier. The Royalists force him to march in their ranks with a musket. When the patriots recapture him, nobody believes his explanation, and he is condemned as a deserter with some twenty others.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1908
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Conrad, Joseph. A Set of Six. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-set-of-six.
Conrad, J. (2026). A set of six. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-set-of-six (Original work published 1908)
Conrad, Joseph. A Set of Six. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-set-of-six.
@book{conrad2026set,
author = {Conrad, Joseph},
title = {A Set of Six},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/a-set-of-six},
note = {First published 1908}
}
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What is A Set of Six about?
It is a collection of six stories by Joseph Conrad. They cover a rebel in the Chilean wars, a London anarchist cell, a deadly ship, a convict engineer, two Napoleonic duelists and a gentleman in Naples.
Who tells the stories in A Set of Six?
Most have a narrator inside the tale, such as General Santierra, a collector of bronzes, a sailor in a pub or a butterfly hunter. This gives each story the feel of a spoken account.
Is The Duel based on a true story?
Conrad says it grew from a short newspaper paragraph about two officers in Napoleon's army who fought a series of duels. He invented the cause and the characters, and wrote it as historical fiction.
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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