Prime logo Prime members: New to Audible?
Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for $14.95/mo after 30 days. Cancel anytime.
To Become a Whale  By  cover art

To Become a Whale

By: Ben Hobson
Narrated by: Ric Herbert
Try for $0.00

$14.95/month after 30 days. Cancel anytime.

Buy for $22.27

Buy for $22.27

Pay using card ending in
By confirming your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and Amazon's Privacy Notice. Taxes where applicable.

Publisher's summary

To Become a Whale tells the story of 13-year-old Sam Keogh, whose mother has died.

Sam has to learn how to live with his silent, hitherto absent father, who decides to make a man out of his son by taking him to work at Tangalooma, then the largest whaling station in the Southern Hemisphere. What follows is the story of a gentle boy trying to make sense of the terrible reality of whaling and the cruelty and alienation of his new world.

©2017 Ben Hobson (P)2017 W.F. Howes Ltd

Critic reviews

"A powerful tale of fathers and sons and all that can't be spoken between them. Rare, original...it made me feel so much." (Sofie Laguna, author of the Miles Franklin Award-winning The Eye of the Sheep)
"Hobson takes us to the depths of cruelty to show us life. A boy tries to be a man, a man tries to be a father, and both struggle to navigate what it means to be men. A great study in masculinity." (Willy Vlautin)

What listeners say about To Become a Whale

Average customer ratings

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.