The Wager

The Wager by David Grann is a tense, thrilling account of survival, mutiny, and maritime adventure set against the backdrop of an 18th-century imperial war. This non-fiction masterpiece by the acclaimed author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, dives deep into the harrowing journey and dramatic aftermath of a shipwreck that shook the British Admiralty to its core.

On 28th January 1742, a forlorn craft of patched-together wood and cloth staggered onto the coastline of Brazil. Within it were thirty gaunt, spectral men much reduced from their former selves, barely clinging to life. These survivors claimed to be from His Majesty's ship the Wager, which had embarked from England in 1740 on a covert mission to entice great riches from Spanish galleons amidst an imperial conflict. Their odyssey through treacherous, storm-lashed seas left them stranded on a barren island off the coast of Patagonia. After enduring months of desolation and nearly starving to death, the crew, showing incredible resilience, cobbled together their frail craft and navigated a daunting 2,500 miles back to safety. Their narrative painted them as gallant heroes against insurmountable odds.

However, the intricate web of heroism began to unravel six months later. A second decrepit vessel, even more worn and meagre than the first, arrived on the Chilean coast. This one carried merely three castaways, yet they bore a radically different version of events. According to them, the thirty men who had triumphantly arrived in Brazil were not heroes but mutineers. The charges of mutiny and betrayal were met with counter-accusations of tyranny and murder, each faction levelling grievously serious claims against the other. The deserted land had descended into chaos with power struggles and desperate fights for dominance, far removed from any semblance of order and discipline.

The British Admiralty was left with a vexing dilemma. The competing testimony from the survivors necessitated a court martial in a desperate bid to untangle the competing accounts of loyalty and rebellion. As the court sought to sift through the layers of deceit and desperation, the stakes could not have been more severe; those found guilty faced the ultimate punishment – execution by hanging.

The convicting atmosphere and intricate character studies crafted by David Grann in The Wager hearken back to his unparalleled narrative talents, vividly painting the tempestuous grit of survival, the frailty of authority, and the convoluted nature of human morality in the darkest of times. This book is not just an account of a historical maritime disaster but a spine-chilling examination of leadership, loyalty, and the human spirit.

THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER
LONGLISTED FOR THE 2023 BAILLIE GIFFORD PRIZE FOR NON-FICTION
SELECTED AS ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVOURITE BOOKS OF 2023

"The beauty of The Wager unfurls like a great sail... one of the finest non-fiction books I’ve ever read." Guardian

"The greatest sea story ever told" Spectator

"A cracking yarn… Grann’s taste for desperate predicaments finds its fullest expression here." Observer

Immerse yourself in this gripping tale of endurance in the face of the cruelest adversity, and witness the dark depths to which humanity can sink when civil order disintegrates.