Cover of The nature of a crime

The nature of a crime

by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford

First published
1924
Reading level
Plain English
Price
Free

About the book

"The Nature of a Crime" by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford is a collaborative novel written and published in 1909. Told through a series of letters, the story follows an unnamed lawyer who has gambled away his client's trust fund. As imprisonment looms, he confesses his forbidden love for a married woman while wrestling with despair and contemplating suicide. The narrator's internal struggle explores themes of guilt, redemption, and whether life retains meaning when stripped of hope and freedom.

  • Epistolary fiction
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Embezzlement

Updated September 2026. Public domain in the USA. Text and summary from Project Gutenberg eBook #75172. The nature of a crime on Wikipedia.

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