An Outcast of the Islands is an adventure novel written by Joseph Conrad in 1896.

Peter Willems is a Dutchman born in Rotterdam who decides to escape from an impoverished life and a public scandal over embezzlement. He sets sail for an island in the Indonesian archipelago.

There he manages to settle down and ends up living among Malaysian and Arab traders and politicians. However, Peter Willems falls in love with the mixed-race daughter of the tribal chief. He must choose between moving up in society or leaving everything and going with the beautiful girl.

The novel explores themes of identity, betrayal, colonialism and human nature. This novel is considered one of Conrad’s first major works and has been praised for its literary style and ability to address complex issues in a subtle and profound manner.

” When he stepped off the straight and narrow path of his peculiar honesty, it was with an inward assertion of unflinching resolve to fall back again into the onotonous but safe stride of virtue as soon as his little excursion into the wayside quagmires had produced the desired effect.”