The nature of a crime

by Joseph Conrad

"The Nature of a Crime" by Joseph Conrad and Ford Madox Ford is a collaborative novel written and published in 1909. Told through a series of letters, the story follows an unnamed lawyer who has gambled away his client's trust fund. As imprisonment looms, he confesses his forbidden love for a married woman while wrestling with despair and contemplating suicide. The narrator's internal struggle explores themes of guilt, redemption, and whether life retains meaning when stripped of hope and freedom.