This brief, late career novel based on Conrad's own experiences introduces the concept of crossing the shadow line between the naivety of youth and fully adult life. It's become a much-used term, but in Conrad's novel it concerns a young man who finds himself skipper of a sailing ship, for the first time, on a journey from Bangkok to Singapore. The ship is becalmed for some weeks, with almost all of the crew ill with 'tropical fever', the narrator is forced into an epic and largely sleepless journey in which he changes forever. It's a powerful, dense narrative, easy to read but hard to forget. There is so much in this short book to reflect upon it's deservedly still being read and studied. This edition has thorough and authoritative notes and an introduction.