Chance Annotated

Chance tells the story of Flora de Barral, the vulnerable abandoned daughter of a bankrupt tycoon, who struggles to achieve dignity and happiness; 'no consideration, no delicacy, no tenderness, no scruples should stand in the way of a woman ... from taking the shortest cut towards securing for herself the easiest possible existence.' It is narrated by different narrators, including Conrad's regular narrator, Charles Marlow, who describe and attempt to interpret various episodes in Flora's life and is the only book to focus on a female character.