VictoryAxel Heyst, a dreamer and a restless drifter, believes he can avoid suffering by cutting himself off from others. Then he becomes involved in the operation of a coal company on a remote island in the Malay Archipelago, and when it fails he turns his back on humanity once more. But his life alters when he rescues a young English girl, Lena, from Zangiacomo's Ladies' Orchestra and the evil innkeeper Schomberg, taking her to his island retreat. The affair between Heyst and Lena begins with her release, but the relationship shifts as Lena struggles to save Heyst from the detachment and isolation that have inhibited and influenced his life. Marked by a violent and tragic conclusion, Victory is both a tale of rescue and adventure and a perceptive study of a complex relationship and of the power of love. |
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Page ix
... seemed awfully presumptuous to think there would be eyes to spare for those pages in a com- munity which in the crash of the big guns and in the din of brave words expressing the truth of an indomitable faith could not but feel the edge ...
... seemed awfully presumptuous to think there would be eyes to spare for those pages in a com- munity which in the crash of the big guns and in the din of brave words expressing the truth of an indomitable faith could not but feel the edge ...
Page xiii
... seemed to be either a servant or the confidant of that aged and distinguished - looking invalid , who early on the passage held a long murmured conversation with the friar . and after that did nothing but groan feebly , smoke ciga ...
... seemed to be either a servant or the confidant of that aged and distinguished - looking invalid , who early on the passage held a long murmured conversation with the friar . and after that did nothing but groan feebly , smoke ciga ...
Page 6
... seemed mostly con- cerned for was the " stride forward , " as he expressed it , in the general organisation of the universe , apparently . He was heard by more than a hundred persons in the islands talking of a " great stride forward ...
... seemed mostly con- cerned for was the " stride forward , " as he expressed it , in the general organisation of the universe , apparently . He was heard by more than a hundred persons in the islands talking of a " great stride forward ...
Page 16
... seemed the very last person to be the agent of Providence in an affair concerned with money . The fact of his turning up in Timor or anywhere else was no more wonderful than the settling of a sparrow on one's window - sill at any given ...
... seemed the very last person to be the agent of Providence in an affair concerned with money . The fact of his turning up in Timor or anywhere else was no more wonderful than the settling of a sparrow on one's window - sill at any given ...
Page 29
... seemed to swim in a green sea . Then that too disappeared . as if it had sunk into the living depths of the tropical vegetation , which is more jealous of men's conquests than the ocean , and which was about to close over the last ...
... seemed to swim in a green sea . Then that too disappeared . as if it had sunk into the living depths of the tropical vegetation , which is more jealous of men's conquests than the ocean , and which was about to close over the last ...
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Common terms and phrases
ain't Alfuro arms asked believe boat breath brig bungalow chair cheroot chimæras Chinaman clairvoyance course dark Davidson door doorway eyes face faint feeling fellow felt frightened gaze gentleman gharry girl glance gleam gone governor gunwale hand hanging head heard Heyst hotel-keeper island Java Sea jetty Jones knew Lena light lips looked Malay Martin matter mean mind Morrison moustaches moved movement murmured mysterious never night Number once paused Pedro perhaps physiognomy quiet Ricardo round Samburan sarong sauceboat Schom Schomberg schooner seemed shadow shoulders side sight silence smile sort sound Sourabaya speak staring stood strange suddenly surprised Swede table d'hôte talk tell Tesmans There's thing thought tion told tone Tropical Belt Coal trouble turned understand verandah voice walked Wang watched wharf What's whispered woman wonder words Zangiacomo