This Thing of Darkness cover art

This Thing of Darkness

 Preview
LIMITED TIME OFFER

3 months free
Try for £0.00
£8.99/mo thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Offer ends 31 July 2025 at 23:59 GMT.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
Premium Plus auto-renews for £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.

This Thing of Darkness

By: Harry Thompson
Narrated by: Colin Morgan
Try for £0.00

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends 31 July 2025 23:59 GMT. Cancel monthly.

Buy Now for £16.99

Buy Now for £16.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
Switch payment method
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Colin Morgan narrates the action-packed and gripping novel of Charles Darwin's voyage on the Beagle - longlisted for the Man Booker Prize.

In 1831 Charles Darwin set off in HMS Beagle under the command of Captain Robert Fitzroy on a voyage that would change the world. This is the story of a deep friendship between two men and the twin obsessions that tear them apart, leading one to triumph and the other to disaster.

©2005 Harry Thompson (P)2005 Headline Publishing Group Ltd Biographical Fiction Genre Fiction Sea Adventures Fiction Biography Adventure Emotionally Gripping Heartfelt

Listeners also enjoyed...

 The Young Lion cover art
The Shores of Tripoli cover art
The Way We Live Now cover art
The Caine Mutiny cover art
Robert Louis Stevenson: A BBC Radio Drama Collection cover art
Morgan's Run cover art
Rain and Other Stories cover art
On the Beach cover art
Mutiny on the Bounty cover art
Edith and Kim cover art
Winchelsea cover art
Peter Simple cover art
Typhoon cover art
The Ill-Made Knight cover art
Mr. Midshipman Easy cover art
A Ship for the King cover art

Critic reviews

"A master storyteller." (Sunday Times)

"An outstandingly good first novel. A[n]...action-adventure combined with subtle intellectual arguments. The meticulous research enriches this fascinating tale." (Sunday Telegraph)
All stars
Most relevant  
Colin's voice is perfect and hopefully he will have the opportunity to participate in more audio book projects.

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Loved listening to this beautiful book being read in such an engaging way. It was cripping at times and I even found myself shouting at the book as it was being read to me. Highly recommend listening or reading this wonderful book. An amazing account of an era of scientific discovery but sad that such a great man such as Robert Fitzroy was so badly treated by so many ignorant, horrible, greedy, vengeful people during his life. His work and life should be celebrated even more than it is already.

Full of exploration, ignorance, sadness, the cruelty of mankind but above all joy, happiness, exploration, science and hope

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I absolutely loved this story. 1st book I've listened to. Great narrator top marks

10 out of 10

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Vividly described, meticulously researched and brilliantly performed. Brings Fitzroy, Darwin and company back to life.

A wonderful science and seafaring epic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The narrative and thematic ambition of this book was always going to make it vulnerable to criticism. Nevertheless, it really is an immense achievement to synthesise the exceptional lives, discoveries, hopes and despairs of two extraordinary men in such a compelling way. Wonderfully thought-provoking on so many topics of science, religion, politics, culture and colonialism. Highly recommended.

An extraordinary achievement

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What an absolute leviathan of a book. Such a good telling of this man’s story with so much history going on all around. Really enriching in so many ways. Sad to have finished it. Lost without it.

Brilliant

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I started listening to this book on slow motion, but only after a few minutes I started realizing how beautiful it was! I couldn’t explain myself how a narrator could change many voices as easily! I was amazed! Colin Morgan is not a narrator, he’s the narration itself! Outstanding talent!

The best narration possible!

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Definitely one of my top ten Audible productions. Narration was perfect. A beautiful book in so many ways. Quite gripping and so very well researched. Grateful thank you to the late Harry Thompson.

Quite simply, stunning !

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
This was an unexpected find. The tale of captain Fitzroy captain of the Beagle. Beautiful descriptions of tierra del fuego, debate about the origin of man and the morality of exploration and exploitation of the local populations. All woven into a rip roaring tail of adventurers and comrades.
Some wonderful descriptions of sailing in the southern lattitudes. Beautifully read.

An epic

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
What a brilliant tale - based to some degree on historical fact (I don't know how much) it ranges across a number of years and a wide cast of characters - though at its centre there are a smaller group that we follow through their journeys - in particular one Robert FitzRoy. He was an admirable man - who did what he believed to be right - sometimes at some cost to himself. The story is exciting and involving and really brings home (to me at least) how amazingly hard life was on the sea during the 19th century (and, obviously, at many other times). The experience is only improved on by Colin Morgan who is an extremely captivating narrator - he brings a great story to life and I will seek out other books he has narrated.

I was surprised to discover that This Thing of Darkness was published in 2005 - I'd assumed much more recently - and saddened to find that it was Harry Thompson's debut and final novel, as he died soon after it was published. Very sad - because he was a very talented man who died far too young.

Fabulous

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews