The 20 Best Books of Spring 2023

One of our best nonfiction storytellers returns with a swashbuckling epic about shipwrecks, scandals, mutiny, and murder. In 1741, when a British navy ship was wrecked on a desolate island off the coast of Patagonia, her crew split into factions and descended into violence. After five months stranded, some sailors escaped in makeshift boats, abandoning their captain and his few remaining loyalists. The survivors of this perilous voyage back to England were hailed as heroes, until the captain miraculously returned, accusing his officers of mutiny. What followed was a court martial and a fierce war of words, with each side spinning a narrative to avoid death by hanging. Masterfully structured from a wealth of first-hand accounts such as logbooks, correspondence, and court-martial testimony, The bet is an exciting journey through fantastic tales, at sea and on land.

Read an interview with the author. here in Esquire.