“Gripping... Reads like a thriller, thrillingly tackling multi-layered history and imperialism.” (Time)

From the author of Killers of the Flower Moon, a tale of shipwreck, survival and savagery that culminates in a military tribunal revealing the shocking truth. A powerful narrative reveals the deeper meaning of events, showing that not only the captain and crew were on trial, but also the very idea of empire.

On January 28, 1742, a dilapidated ship made of wood and fabric was washed up on the shores of Brazil. Inside were thirty emaciated men, barely alive, and they had an extraordinary story to tell. These were the survivors of His Majesty's ship Wager, a British vessel that left England in 1740 on a secret mission during the Imperial War with Spain. While chasing a Spanish galleon, the ship was wrecked on a deserted island off the coast of Patagonia. After spending several months in distress and facing hunger, the men built a flimsy boat and sailed for more than a hundred days, covering almost 3,000 miles through stormy seas.

But... six months later, another one washed up on the shores of Chile, an even more dilapidated ship. There were only three people on this ship, and they told a completely different story. The thirty sailors who landed in Brazil were not heroes - they were rebels. The first group responded with counter-accusations against the tyrannical and bloodthirsty senior officer and his henchmen. It became clear that once on the island, the crew had fallen into anarchy, with warring factions fighting for dominance in the barren desert. Accusations of treason and murder began to fly, and the Admiralty convened a court-martial to determine who was telling the truth. The bet was made on life and death - whoever the court finds guilty could be hanged.

David Grann is an American journalist writing for The New Yorker magazine and writer, author of a number of best-selling books written in the non-fiction genre. fiction.