Amy Foster

In this 1901 short story inspired by Ford Maddox Ford's "The Cinque Ports", Conrad works on the theme of alienation. It centers on a young man, Yanko, the sole survivor of a shipwreck off the coast of Kent. The locals, not knowing that a boat has sunk, shun him as he washes up on their shores. But he is taken in by an eccentric local, and little by little, Yanko learns some English and falls in love with the servant girl, Amy Foster. But he has not come to the end of his troubles yet and the community keeps him at arm's length, terrified of his very difference.