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The Wager
- Narrated by: Dion Graham
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
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The Wager
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Summary
THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER
*LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BALLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION*
*SELECTED AS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023*
From the international bestselling author of KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON and THE LOST CITY OF Z, a mesmerising story of shipwreck, mutiny and murder, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth.
On 28th January 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 chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon, The Wager was wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The crew, marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2,500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
Then, six months later, another, even more decrepit, craft landed on the coast of Chile. This boat contained just three castaways and they had a very different story to tell. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes – they were mutineers. The first group responded with counter-charges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. 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.
Critic reviews
'The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest nonfiction books I’ve ever read' Guardian
‘The greatest sea story ever told’ Spectator
‘Combining impeccable research with exceptional storytelling powers, [Grann] spirits the reader aboard a creaking wooden ship trapped at the eye of a howling storm… No book that you are likely to read this year or next will prove more dramatic and enthralling than Grann’s magnificent story of both life at sea and out on the desolate, mist-laden island whose solitary peak the Wager’s unfortunate crew aptly named Mount Misery’ Miranda Seymour, Financial Times
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What listeners say about The Wager
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Suffolk Pest
- 18-08-23
poor reading
The story is incredible and was no doubt carefully researched, however the author is reaching and the reader is too dramatic.
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Andrew McGregor
- 20-07-23
Amazing story of the challenges of life at sea and leadership
A great effort to pull all the threads of source material to bring an honest account (as best one can) of an extraordinary story. Understand a film is in the works and I look forward to it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Rafique Rahman
- 17-11-23
Brilliantly done
Really enjoyed this one a good adventure story the narrative was very interesting and easy to follow. I listened to it in one night
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 09-08-23
Great story hampered by odd narration
I have no issue with the narrator being American rather than English; the author is American and it makes no difference to the quality of the telling - but the performance is rather odd putting in this case. He over emphasizes and moulds the narration as if in a radio drama rather than standing back and let the excellent writing tell the story. it's not a deal breaker but it did have me frequently wondering why he was performing in such a way. the overall story and writing are excellent though so worth a listen for that alone, and others may be less irked than I was by the style of reading!
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4 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mr. Andrew Dennis
- 02-07-23
Really interesting and well researched
Clearly well researched but also very well written. It’s a harrowing story exposing how hardships can bring out the worst in us.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Paige
- 19-01-24
It is evident the amount of facts and research that had gone into writing this book.
I loved the angles this told the story from! The accounts where clearly laid out and gave an opportunity for the reader to choose who’s side of events they could connect with the most. The entire story is interesting and quite thrilling to read however I did find that it took as most books do a a few chapters to really bury myself into the story. I would highly recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- J R WALTON
- 23-01-24
A marvellous tale of the high seas.
Was gripped from beginning to end. Wonderful book. Thoroughly enjoyed it. Will be checking out more from the same author. Only wish I could have seen maps while listening. Will have to go on google maps and download them and listen again.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Hoops
- 12-02-24
Incredible tale of life under sail in the early Royal Navy.
It's hard to believe, after hearing this well researched volume, how the British ever became a naval world power. With no system of formal training, class privilege over-riding ability, a high percentage of unwilling press-ganged crew, dreadful conditions on board, rampant disease and malnutrition it's a miracle that any vessel ever got to sea. (And that's before you factor in the shocking state of the ships themselves, slowly disintegrating and requiring constant ongoing repairs). Then if you overlay the vanities, pretensions and self-serving senior officers brutal 'leadership' it's even more miraculous how entire fleets were sent on dubious and over-stretched missions.
Some of what is told is almost unbelievable. Like artificially inflating the under-staffed crew numbers by literally dumping hundreds of sick and disabled seaman from hospitals onto the ships to make up the numbers.
What is incredible about this 'adventure', apart from everything that happened, is that a number of competing accounts were published by different protagonists with very conflicting views. Yet the author manages to construct a compelling and gripping accout from these sources and many other historical accounts.
I was originally drawn to this story by the Radio 4 serialisation. The audio book has very good narration (though it did seem strange, at first, being read by an American). If you have any interest in history and the historical process, treat yourself!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 11-01-24
Fascinating Story
I really enjoyed this book. I am extremely thankful not to be an 18th century seaman. My only issues with the audio book were pronunciation. It’s a book about the British Navy so it was jarring to hear lieutenant pronounced every time.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- david m.
- 31-01-24
A shame
A well written and riveting story ruined by absurdly melodramatic narration ! I gave up at the point the heading chapter 12 was read out in chilling tones.
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