Historical Fiction: 99 Cent Chance, A tale in Two Parts

Chance by Joseph Conrad is A Tale in Two Parts first published in 1913. Chance is narrated by Conrad's regular narrator, Charles Marlow, but is characterised by a complex, nested narrative in which different narrators take up the story at different points and attempt to interpret various episodes in the life of Miss de Barral, the daughter of a convicted swindler named Smith de Barral (though this character is famous in the world of the novel as a criminal, he may, at least at first, have been merely an incompetent banker). Miss de Barral leads a sheltered life while her father is prosperous, then must rely on the generosity of others, who resent her or have agendas for her, before she escapes by marrying one Captain Anthony. Much of the book involves the musing of the various narrators over what she and the Captain expected from this union, and what they actually got from it.

"I don't see why I shouldn't be as reckless as I please." I was nettled by her brusque manner of asserting her folly, and I told her that neither did I as far as that went, in a tone which almost suggested that she was welcome to break her neck for all I cared. This was considerably more than I meant, but I don't like rude girls. I had been introduced to her only the day before--at the round tea-table--and she had barely acknowledged the introduction. I had not caught her name but I had noticed her fine, arched eyebrows which, so the physiognomists say, are a sign of courage. I examined her appearance quietly. Her hair was nearly black, her eyes blue, deeply shaded by long dark eyelashes. .... I went on to say that some regard for others should stand in the way of one's playing with danger. ... Had she given occasion for a coroner's inquest the verdict would have been suicide, with the implication of unhappy love. They would never be able to understand that she had taken the trouble to climb over two post-and-rail fences only for the fun of being reckless. ... She retorted that once one was dead what horrid people thought of one did not matter. It was said with infinite contempt; but something like a suppressed quaver in the voice made me look at her again. I perceived then that her thick eyelashes were wet. Joseph Conrad's inimitable narrator, Charles Marlow, is back, this time as the anchor of a number of narrators who give their impressions of the odyssey of Flora de Barral, Conrad's only female protagonist, from cosseted vulnerability to individual strength.