The North Water: A Novel Audiobook

Now an AMC+ original miniseries event starring Colin Farrell and Jack O'Connell! A nineteenth-century whaling ship sets sail for the Arctic with a killer aboard in this dark, sharp, and highly original tale that grips like a thriller One of The New York Times Book Review's 10 Best Books of the Year, and named a Best Book of the Year by The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The New Statesman, Publishers Weekly, and The Chicago Public Library Behold the man: stinking, drunk, and brutal. Henry Drax is a harpooner on the Volunteer, a Yorkshire whaler bound for the rich hunting waters of the arctic circle. Also aboard for the first time is Patrick Sumner, an ex-army surgeon with a shattered reputation, no money, and no better option than to sail as the ship's medic on this violent, filthy, and ill-fated voyage. In India, during the Siege of Delhi, Sumner thought he had experienced the depths to which man can stoop. He had hoped to find temporary respite on the Volunteer, but rest proves impossible with Drax on board. The discovery of something evil in the hold rouses Sumner to action. And as the confrontation between the two men plays out amid the freezing darkness of an arctic winter, the fateful question arises: who will survive until spring? With savage, unstoppable momentum and the blackest wit, Ian McGuire's The North Water weaves a superlative story of humanity under the most extreme conditions. National Bestseller Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize Winner of the RSL Encore Award Finalist for the Los Angeles Book Prize

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"John Keating is the perfect narrator for this story of redemption amid the brutality of a doomed nineteenth-century whaling trip. Keating's Irish-accented voice shifts to fit each of the motley characters who populate the book—from the disgraced and opium-addicted surgeon, Patrick Sumner, to his shipmate, the irredeemably evil Henry Drax, and various other sailors. Keating captures the roughness of most of the men as well as the smoother tones of the officers and gentlemen who try to control things. This story includes bravery, cowardice, treachery, death, whales, bears, and friendship. It is by itself a compelling tale; Keating's performance gives it another dimension and makes it riveting."

— AudioFile