The Secret Agent is widely considered one of Conrad's greatest literary achievements. Set in gloomy 1886 London, the novel follows the life of Alfred Verdoc, a Soho shop owner and secret agent who is a member of a largely ineffectual anarchist cell. During a meeting at an unnamed foreign embassy where he is a covert employee, Verdoc is tasked with bombing the Greenwich Observatory-ostensibly to create public outrage and goad a lax British government into to acting more forcibly against émigré socialist and anarchist activists. The evil plan goes awry with far-reaching and devastating consequences.

This Warbler Classics edition includes an essay on Joseph Conrad by J. B. Priestly and a detailed biographical timeline.