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Cover of The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad

The Secret Agent

Joseph Conrad

  • 272 pages · about 5 hours
  • First published 1907
  • 335 editions
  • Free to read
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1 About this book

The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale is a novel by Joseph Conrad, first published in 1907. The story is set in London in 1886 and deals with Mr. Adolf Verloc and his work as a spy for an unnamed country (presumably Russia). The Secret Agent is one of Conrad's later political novels in which he moved away from his former tales of seafaring.

The novel is dedicated to H. G. Wells and deals broadly with anarchism, espionage, and terrorism. It also deals with exploitation of the vulnerable in Verloc's relationship with his brother-in-law Stevie, who has an intellectual disability. Conrad’s gloomy portrait of London depicted in the novel was influenced by Charles Dickens’ Bleak House.

Good for readers who want: a classic, spy fiction, and a book they can read free online.

  • Classics
  • Political
  • Africa
  • English Romances
  • Romance Ingles
  • Thrillers, espionage
  • Thrillers
  • Mystery

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3 About Joseph Conrad

1857–1924

Joseph Conrad (born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski, Polish: ; 3 December 1857 – 3 August 1924) was a Polish-British novelist and story writer. He is regarded as one of the greatest writers in the English language and – though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties (always with a strong foreign accent) – he became a master prose stylist who brought a non-English sensibility into English literature.

Bio adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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