Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Shadow-Line

By: Joseph Conrad
Narrated by: Fred Williams
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

Written at the start of the Great War, when his son Borys was at the Western Front, The Shadow-Line is Conrad's supreme effort to open man's eyes to the meaning of war through the stimulus of art. In many ways an autobiographical narrative, this masterpiece of his final period relates the story of a young and inexperienced sea captain whose first command finds him with a ship becalmed in tropical seas and a crew smitten with fever. As he wrestles with his conscience and with the sense of isolation that his position imposes, the captain crosses the "shadow-line" between youth and adulthood.

It is the qualities, both individual and collective, needed to confront the ship's crisis that symbolize the qualities needed by humanity, not only to face evil and destruction but also to come to terms with life.

©1923 Joseph Conrad (P)2000 Blackstone Audiobooks
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Nostromo cover art
Almayer's Folly cover art
Youth and Heart of Darkness cover art
Victory cover art
Heart of Darkness: A Signature Performance by Kenneth Branagh cover art
The Secret Agent cover art
Joseph Conrad: The Secret Agent, Heart of Darkness & More cover art
Under Western Eyes cover art
The Plattner Story and Others cover art
Pierre and John cover art
Billy Budd cover art
The Sea Wolf cover art
Pietr the Latvian cover art
The Listener and Other Stories cover art
The Silent Voyage cover art
Billy Budd cover art

What listeners say about The Shadow-Line

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    28
  • 4 Stars
    18
  • 3 Stars
    9
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    11
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    3
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    25
  • 4 Stars
    12
  • 3 Stars
    8
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Conrad

As always Conrad uses three words rather than one “wonderful. This has been an absolute pleasure for me.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A gripping yarn, read by a pro

Fred Williams has the most perfect, measured, sonorous voice for this salty tale of coming of age, captaincy and a desperate struggle against both natural foes and the malignant influence of supernatural rumour.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Here come the cavalry

I loved the phrasing, strange pronunciation and all. A worthy ending, a reason to persevere although my attention may have slipped a few times.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A Conrad gem

I did not know this book, thanks to Audible, I benefited from a special offer.
Conrad was a writer who worked at sea,.
This story is typical of how a crew is hired at short notice.
I couldn't get the supposed supernatural part, which is in the introduction. Maybe it's part of sailship lore.
This is a tragic sea story based on the author's experiences.
The narrator, reading a book written in 1917, does a good job.
My grandfather, who brought me up, was from that era, the language, Conrad, is spot on.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Great novel let down by the narration

This book is crying out for a decent narrator.
Above it names Fred Williams as narrator in the recording it names William Sutherland, who ever it is makes the aged Conrad recalling his first youthful and eventful ship’s command sound like a bumbling old fool. Excruciating! Let’s have new one please.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

bad recording quality

Very bad recording quality. You should have used a de-esser and a pop filter at least to make the sound better and clearer. In my opinion, such products, even if "included in the subscription", should not be on Audible.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

2 people found this helpful