The outlines of Conrad's life are well known - how he spent 20 years at sea and amassed the experience he would later transmute into some of the 20th century's finest and most original novels; how he became a great stylist in English, his third language and one he spoke at times incomprehensibly; and how he struggled for success and solvency while presenting himself in the - in fact outlandishly eccentric - guise of an English gentleman. The author reveals much here that is new on Conrad's Polish background, the Carlist Wars in Spain in which he was briefly caught up, his pro-semitism, his suicide attempt, his meeting with T.E.Lawrence, and - most importantly - his love affair with the wild and beautiful American journalist Jane Anderson, who became a traitor in the World War II. He discusses for the first time an unpublished film scenario written by Conrad at the end of his life. There are also many new connections to be found here between characters in Conrad's novels and characters in his life.