The Wager

A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder

By: David Grann

Narrated by: Dion Graham, David Grann

Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins

Publisher's summary

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a thrilling story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court-martial that reveals a shocking truth. The powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of the events on the Wager, showing that it was not only the captain and crew who ended up on trial, but the very idea of empire.

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, TIME, Smithsonian, NPR, Vulture, Kirkus Reviews

“Riveting...Reads like a thriller, tackling a multilayered history—and imperialism—with gusto.”—Time

"A tour de force of narrative nonfiction.”—The Wall Street Journal

On January 28, 1742, a ramshackle vessel of patched-together wood and cloth washed up on the coast of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary tale to tell. They were survivors of His Majesty’s Ship the Wager, a British vessel that had left England in 1740 on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain. While the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing nearly 3,000 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.

But then...six months later, another, even more decrepit craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways, and they told a very different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes—they were mutineers. The first group responded with countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that while stranded on the island the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominion over the barren wilderness. As accusations of treachery and murder flew, the Admiralty convened a court martial to determine who was telling the truth. The stakes were life-and-death—for whomever the court found guilty could hang.

The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court-martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the listener spellbound.

©2023 David Grann (P)2023 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

A Best Book of the Year: The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, TIME, NPR, Esquire, BookPage

“The most gripping sea-yarn I’ve read in years….A tour de force of narrative nonfiction. Mr. Grann’s account show how storytelling, whether to judges or readers, can shape individual and national fortunes–as well as our collective memories.”—Wall Street Journal

“Glorious, steely…a tightly written, relentless, blow-by-blow account that is hard to put down”—The Washington Post

“As much a rousing adventure as an exploration of the power of narratives to shape our perception of reality.”—The New York Times

Exceptionally well read.

A thrilling account of a mission into unknown and dangerous waters Thank you, Dion Graham for the narration.

Great Story!!

Enjoyed the book. Reads a bit like a narrative. Great story of survival and the human desire to live.

The Horn, really sucks to try to get around….

Narrator tries really hard, but if it’s not a British Narrator, your audiobook can go right to hell!

A high paced thriller at the end of the world

Wonderfully narrated story of human suffering and despair. Vividly wonderful to hear and feel what these men faced….

Incredible story with excellent narration

Dion gave an incredible narration performance that helps elevate and already riveting story to new heights.

Great Story

Sounds like fiction! So much drama. Makes me sad for what life was like then, and what it still is.

Fantastic

Really well done. Well researched. Reads like a thriller. Narrator does an excellent job.

Worth Reading, But.......

This was a fascinating book but not perfect. The author embellished the text often, as if the book were fiction. Also, the narrator was very weak. It was as if he were telling young kids a ghost story. He added too much melodrama for me.

An Entertaining True Story

Meticulously accurate story of the viciousness of the sea and the vulnerabilities of those who sail upon it. I really enjoyed this book. Don't be put off by the negative reviews some write about the reader. He did a marvelous job! A masterful performance!

Not the best audio book.

The story once you get to it , is great. There are a few reasons why this audiobook wasn’t so good First off , the first 40% of the book is about boats, sailors, and England. Mind you this is an eight hour book so you are three hours into the book and the plot really hasnt started yet. So the whole book is really only a five hour audiobook/ story. Second, the narrator is trying way too high hard to sell the story. He’s got a great silky, smooth voice, but the over acting gets tiresome and almost offputting. All in all it made 8 hours go by on my drives but i wouldn’t really recommend it when there are so many other great audio books out there.