An Outcast of the Islands: A Novel

Peter Willems’s life enters a downward spiral when he is caught and, despite his motives, subsequently dismissed for embezzling from his employer. Saved from financial ruin once again by his benefactor, Captain Lingard, Willems finds himself at another post, and facing similar problems when he finds it difficult to work Almayer, the outpost’s chief. Willems’s life becomes even further complicated when he falls in love with Aissa, a young, local woman.

An Outcast of the Islands is Joseph Conrad’s second novel, and in addition to featuring characters and events he introduced in his first book, Almayer’s Folly, deals with many of the same themes that Conrad also explores in his later works, Nostromo, and Heart of Darkness. A third novel, The Rescue, published in 1920, makes up the loose trilogy. An Outcast of the Islands was adapted for film in 1951.

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