Joseph Conrad was a Polish-British writer regarded as one of the greatest novelists to write in the English language. The Shadow Line tells a story of a young sea captain's first command which brings with it a succession of crises: sea is becalmed, the crew laid low by fewer, and his deranged first mate is convinced that the ship is haunted by the malignant spirit of a previous captain. The Nature of Crime is Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford's collaborative work, a study of human psychology. The feelings of the protagonist, as life is crumbles around him, are expressed profoundly by the two authors. Heart of Darkness remains an indisputably classic text and arguably Conrad's finest work. Taking place mostly in Africa, it tells the story of Europeans going to the Congo in search of goods to bring back, mostly ivory.