In The Absence of Power: Governing America

Contains the novels Lord Jim, Nostromo and The Secret Agent, together with a selection of Conrad’s superb short stories.

When ​Barry Fairbrother dies unexpectedly in his early 40s, the little town of Pagford is left in shock. Pagford is, seemingly, an English idyll, with a cobbled market square and an ancient abbey, but what lies behind the pretty façade is a town at war.

Rich at war with poor, teenagers at war with their parents, wives at war with their husbands, teachers at war with their pupils… Pagford is not what it first seems.

And the empty seat left by Barry on the parish council soon becomes the catalyst for the biggest war the town has yet seen. Who will triumph in an election fraught with passion, duplicity and unexpected revelations?

Brings together a novelette, a novel, short stories, and an article on Conan Doyle’s experiences as a ship’s surgeon reproduced from the pages of The Strand Magazine