To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life." No, not me; Maugham! And what better refuge than the prose of Joseph Conrad, born Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski in northern Ulraine, who though he did not speak English fluently until his twenties, became one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language.
"The Secret Sharer", sometimes called a novella because it is only about 16,500 words long, was written by Conrad in 1909. It was made into the short film shown above, and into a truly lavish Anglo-Polish romantic thriller with a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack in 2014 - click here.
I'm still looking for a DVD of this movie, so if you find it anywhere, let me know. In the meantime, there's nothing, absolutely nothing, as fascinating and absorbing as Conrad's prose itself, so make yourself comfortable and read the book here. [SIGN UP - it's free!, LOG IN, and BORROW]
