The novel is set in Costaguana, an imaginary South American republic, around a silver mine that brings wealth and political intrigue to the coastal town of Sulaco. Charles Gould, the mine's idealistic owner, believes that investment will bring order, while revolution and foreign interests circle. Nostromo, the town's trusted and admired foreman of dockworkers, is given a dangerous task as unrest breaks out. Conrad weaves a large cast into a broad portrait of power, money and corruption, showing how material interests can bend even honest people. It is among his most ambitious and politically far-sighted books.
Quotes
"God for men — religions for women," he muttered sometimes.
Action is consolatory. It is the enemy of thought and the friend of flattering illusions.
The air of the New World seems favourable to the art of declamation.
A nickname may be the best record of a success. That's what I call putting the face of a joke upon the body of a truth.