“We stand of fall by the truth; if truth will not support us, nothing can.” In 1940, a fleet of vessels left England on a secret mission during an imperial war with Spain; one of those, The Wager. Two years later, a ramshackle ship 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. These were the survivors of The Wager, which had shipwrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. After being marooned for months, they forged their flimsy craft and made a near 3000 mile journey across the seas. These men were thought to be heroes, until 6 months later when another vessel, in even worse condition, landed on the coast of Chile. These men had a very different story to tell… A court martial trial was the only way to get to the truth - the stakes being life and death for those found guilty. I love a book set on the sea. In my goal to read more non-fiction, I came across this gorgeous cover in my local bookstore, and was intrigued after reading the synopsis. I REALLY enjoyed this, particularly as an immersion read with the audiobook which was fantastic. It was surprisingly immersive on the whole honestly, and I was very invested from the start. I fear this may send me down a shipwreck rabbit hole

Wow. David Grann greatly succeeded in bringing to life a piece of history that authorities tried at the time so hard to bury. The way he writes involves every one of your senses and pulls as your very human nature to relate to these poor stranded men. My heart ached for these men. The level of research that was completed for this work is clear, with frequent quotes throughout the book, you feel like you’re getting the story from the horses mouth so to speak. I was pleased with the inclusion of the maps and routes taken during their time, along with photos and illustrations that were relevant. My only wish would have been a labeled ship diagram to refer to due to the amount of references to parts/ areas of the ship and my lack of knowledge on this. If you’re on the fence about this book, buy it.

This was a captivating story, hooking in the reader with an intriguingly teasing introduction, hinting at the catastrophe to come without telling you who the villains were and who the victims, leaving you to slowly unravel the mystery over the course of the book. This was an easy read, feeling closer to a fiction novel at times rather than a non-fiction book. As such, I can see this being enjoyed by readers who are not normally inclined to reading history books but who might be intrigued by an easy-to-read thrilling tale of (as the subtitle reads) “shipwreck, mutiny and murder”. Typically, I become bogged down by the act of differentiating fact from fiction in history books. I tend to dislike historians presenting speculation as fact or ascribing emotions or dialogue to historical figures for which they have no historical evidence. This time, however, I chose to turn off this academic switch in my historian-trained brain and tried to simply enjoy the story. Consequently, I cannot attest to the historical accuracy or reliability of the tale. All I can say is that this was an expertly, compellingly told story that I would happily recommend! Thrilling, addictive and entertaining, this is a true story of adventure, crime and catastrophe that kept me glued to the page.

Grann writes in such a manner that makes the non-fic world fictional, fleshing out characters with soul, backed with a no stone left unturned approach to evidence (Grann even visited the desolate island the shipwreck occurred). After, reading 'The Wager' in a couple of days I immediately picked up Grann's other work 'Lost City of Z', as he his truly an addictive and masterful author. It is no surprise Scorsese and Leornardo Di Caprio have already secured the rights to this book and I look forward to his other works.

Enjoyed verey miute of it