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Nostromo
Nostromo
Mar 20, 2026 6:20 PM

Author:Joseph Conrad,Michael Pennington

Nostromo

Penguin Classics presents Joseph Conrad's Nostromo, adapted for audio and available as a digital download as part of the Penguin English Library series. Read by Michael Pennington.

'There is something in a treasure that fastens upon a man's mind. He will pray and blaspheme and still persevere, and will curse the day he ever heard of it, and will let his last hour come upon him unawares, still believing that he missed it only by a foot. He will see it every time he closes his eyes. He will never forget it till he is dead - and even then ...'

In the exotic South American republic of Costaguana, the San Tomé silver mine provides opportunities for untold wealth and power. Yet amid the turbulence and brutality of Latin American politics, everyone associated with it - from the compromised English mine-owner Gould to the grasping businessman Holroyd, from the revolutionary Montero to the loyal and seemingly incorruptible worker Nostromo - becomes somehow irrevocably tainted. Nostromo is a grandiose epic, startlingly modern in its technique and political sophistication - and a masterpiece of tension, adventure and mystery.

Part of a series of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives. Affordable, collectable, quality productions - perfect for on-the-go listening.

Reviews

A work of formidable imaginative scope ... the writing is so good, the language so surprisingly subtle and the characters so beautifully delineated

—— Daily Telegraph

Riveting action scenes bristle with a queasy energy ... unputdownable and disgustingly realistic

—— Sunday Telegraph

Elton writes a good crime story with lots of twists and excitement

—— Henry Sutton , Daily Mirror

Seamlessly blends the sarcastic and the sincere, the comic and the tragic . . . stylish and spirited

—— New York Times

A smashing success

—— Newsday

A beautiful, sad, utterly convincing account of an entire life… I’m amazed a novel this good escaped general attention for so long

—— Ian McEwan

A brilliant, beautiful, inexorably sad, wise, and elegant novel

—— Nick Hornby , The Believer

Something rarer than a great novel -- it is a perfect novel, so well told and beautifully written, so deeply moving, that it takes your breath away...few stories this sad could be so secretly triumphant, or so exhilarating.

—— New York Times

A beautiful and moving novel, as sweeping, intimate and mysterious as life itself

—— Geoff Dyer

The most extraordinary work of fiction I've read in a long time... If you're looking for a book that's simple and subtle, warmly human and at the same time utterly pitiless in his rendition of the vicissitudes of an ordinary existence, here's one you will read again and again

—— New Statesman

Unquestionably one of the finest novels of the 20th century, its genius lies in its candour and in prose that simmers with subtle intent.

—— Irish Times

The word-of-mouth hit of the summer. Read it and you’ll see why

—— Daily Telegraph

It’s as if this novel is about all of us: our hopes, disappointments and sorrows… a lesson in values, told with love and awe

—— Bel Mooney , Daily Mail

A wonderful novel, rich and sombre, a record of pain and less but also of moments of vision and tenderness... flawless

—— Adam Foulds , Independent

This short-but-striking novel quickly reveals itself to be…crime fiction, yes, but also a subtle and deeply introspective consideration of the inertia of lonely middle-age, its philosophy existentialist in the manner of Jean Paul Sartre, Ingmar Bergman and certain novels of Georges Simenon. The result is a highly complex and accomplished work

—— Billy O'Callaghan , Irish Examiner

Intriguing tale… Solstad expertly navigates the bizarre mind of a clever but lonely man locked in an existentialist nightmare

—— Telegraph

This is no straightforward crime novel…an exploration of guilt, inaction and moral quandaries

—— Nic Bottomley , Bath Life
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