đź“– How Long Does It Take to Read The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Random House Large Print)?
The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Random House Large Print) is 528 pages long, which means it has around 132,000 words (estimated 250 words per page). Wondering how much time you’ll need to finish it? Let’s break it down:
⏳ Reading Time Based on Speed
- Average Reader (200 words per minute): About 11 hours and 0 minutes—perfect for a relaxed weekend or a few cozy evenings with tea and snacks.
- Slower Reader (150 words per minute): Prefer to take your time? It’ll take around 14 hours and 40 minutes—enjoy it over several days at your own pace.
- Fast Reader (300 words per minute): Speed through in just 7 hours and 20 minutes—a quick, exciting read!
⏳ What If You Read One Hour a Day?
If you set aside just one hour each day, here’s how long it’ll take:
- At 200 words per minute: You’ll get through 48 pages per session and finish in 11 days—less than a week!
- At 150 words per minute: Reading 36 pages daily, you’ll wrap up in 15 days—a relaxed, no-rush read.
- At 300 words per minute: Speeding through 72 pages per session, you’ll be done in just 8 days!
đź“š No Rush, Just Enjoy the Story!
No matter how fast or slow you go, The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder (Random House Large Print) is here for you. Whether you devour it in a weekend or savor it over time, it’s a fun, immersive read whenever you’re ready to jump in!
From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Killers of the Flower Moon and The Lost City of Z, a mesmerizing story of shipwreck, survival, and savagery, culminating in a court martial that reveals a shocking truth
On January 28, 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 the Wager had been chasing a Spanish treasure-filled galleon known as “the prize of all the oceans,” it had wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia. The men, after being marooned for months and facing starvation, built the flimsy craft and sailed for more than a hundred days, traversing 2500 miles of storm-wracked seas. They were greeted as heroes.
But 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 countercharges of their own, of a tyrannical and murderous captain and his henchmen. It became clear that 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.
The Wager is a grand tale of human behavior at the extremes told by one of our greatest nonfiction writers. Grann’s recreation of the hidden world on a British warship rivals the work of Patrick O’Brian, his portrayal of the castaways’ desperate straits stands up to the classics of survival writing such as The Endurance, and his account of the court martial has the savvy of a Scott Turow thriller. As always with Grann’s work, the incredible twists of the narrative hold the reader spellbound. Most powerfully, he unearths the deeper meaning of the events, showing that it was not only the Wager’s captain and crew who were on trial – it was the very idea of empire.