Every time I see my blog's Live Traffic Feed display another visit from a certain reader near Hicksville, New York, I am reminded of Joseph Conrad's novella "The Secret Sharer". Like Conrad's nameless stowaway, the visitor from Hicksville comes and goes without leaving a trace.
Maybe next time he may wish to read Conrad's story by clicking here. The story is less than sixty pages long, but doubting that my secret sharer read much since his Wilbur Smith days on Bougainville, I offer him this audiobook read by Orson Welles (remember "The Third Man"?).
In 2014 Peter Fudakowski turned the film into a contemporary fable told with epic beauty, humour and a twist in its tale. The twist is that Conrad's classic sharer has had a sex-change and turned into a beautiful Chinese woman. Apologies to my secret sharer: I could only find a short trailer, hardly enough to satisfy your new interest in classic literature.
It's seven o'clock on a Sunday morning. I've cooked my porridge, had my cup of tea, and am about to set out on my walk around the village. On my return I may have had another visit from that visitor in Hicksville!
