?Twixt Land and Sea is a collection of Joseph Conrad?s three short stories??A Smile of Fortune? ?The Secret Sharer? and ?Freya of the Seven Isles??published together in a single volume as Conrad meant them to be.
In ?A Smile of Fortune? a ship?s captain meets the seemingly genial Mr. Jacobus and his irritable brother while embarking in the tropics. One a respectable businessman with a considerable reputation the other a confessed rogue and entrepreneur with no reputation left to lose the captain is at a loss to determine which he should befriend. In this masterly tale of misplaced loyalty family feuds and illicit bargaining the captain finds himself the unwitting partner in a deeply unorthodox transaction.
In ?The Secret Sharer? Leggatt formerly chief mate of the Sephora a neighboring ship in the Gulf sneaks onto a young untested captain?s ship and joins him on deck. Leggatt admits to killing a fellow crewman a few weeks ago for which he was subsequently stripped of his duties and kept under arrest onboard. The captain hides him from his own crew ? and must decide his fate.
Conrad explores how the lust for power can drive men to greatness?or its opposite?in ?Freya of the Seven Isles? a sweeping saga set against a turbulent background of barely suppressed hostilities between Dutch and British merchant navies in the Indian Ocean basin.
