Suspense: Joseph Conrad

[poliphilo]

 A high-minded young English milord (who is more interesting than this brief description makes him sound) arrives in Genoa in February 1815. Napoleon is in exile in Elba- just across the water- and (I'm paraphrasing here) makes a third wherever two men come together.  He meets again with a French girl he knew in childhood (possibly his half-sister) who is now married to a parvenu Piedmontese Count. They fall in love. Almost everybody else he meets is an agent- secret or acknowledged- of some faction or other and those who are not active agents are spies. He falls in with a bunch of carbonari- Italian patriots who aspire to create an Italian empire with Napoleon at its head- and has a night-time adventure involving boats...

And at this point Conrad dies.

As far as it goes it is a wonderful book- full of atmosphere and feeling and vivid personalities.