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Joseph Korzeniowski's childhood was lonely and by any standard tragic. The only son of nationalist Poles, he lived through his family's exile in Siberia, the early death of his mother and, while he was still a boy, the death of his father. Befriended long distance by Uncle Thaddeus, his mother's brother, he went alone through Polish schools and dreamed of going to sea. Unlikely though the dreams were for a boy from the midlands of a land in turmoil, the young man found himself in Marseilles embarked on a career before the mast.
Conrad sailed in all manner of ships and on many an ill-advised voyage. His years at sea were filled with misadventures as well as adventure but he gained experience, traveled widely and met a good many people who would later appear as characters in his books.
Conrad's career as an author is probably spiritually closer to his childhood than life at sea but here again there are unlikely aspects for he chose to write in English, a language he learned quite late in life. Conrad, writer, husband and father, rounds out the life of a fascinating figure.
Olivia Coolidge has here presented a man whose influence on letters has never been more strongly felt. She has sorted out the man from the myth, the fact from the fiction and the result is a stunning, readable biography, one that is sure to interest the many young people who have already discovered the power of Conrad's works.
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