Under Western Eyes

Hailed as one of Joseph Conrad's finest literary achievements, Under Western Eyes tells the story of a young man unwittingly caught in the political turmoil of pre-Revolutionary czarist Russia. It begins with a bomb that kills a hated Russian minister of police (its intended target), along with several innocent bystanders. A young student named Razumov hides the perpetrator, who questions his moral strength and integrity. Set in St. Petersburg amid intrigue and espionage, this novel hauntingly speaks to the broader, timeless question of human responsibility and honor. Conrad said that his intent was to render "the psychology of Russia," a country being driven to anarchy by misguided revolutionaries. This masterwork, published six years before the Russian Revolution, is a chillingly accurate prophecy of what was to come. "[Conrad] sees once and he sees forever....His novels are full of moments of vision.... He could not write badly, one feels, to save his life." -- Virginia Woolf Joseph Conrad (Teodor Józef Konrad Nalecz Korzeniowski) (1857-1924) was born in the Ukraine. He was raised by an uncle after the death of his parents, and he educated himself by reading widely in Polish and French. At 21 he began a twenty-year career sailing the seas on French merchant vessels. He went to London for a rest and began writing, using the romance and adventure of his own life for his incomparable sea novels. Geoffrey Howard is a retired British journalist who strives to add warmth and clarity to every audiobook. Says Howard, "I try to bring the listener as close as possible to the experience I'm having while reading it for the first time."