Audiobooks by Jonathan Franklin

[German] - 438 Tage: Überlebenskampf auf dem Pazifik

José Salvador Alvarenga führt ein hartes Leben: In der Hoffnung auf den großen Fang fährt er regelmäßig von seinem Wohnort Costa Azul in Mexiko mit seinem Boot 200 Kilometer auf den Pazifik hinaus. Dort fühlt er sich frei und ist in seinem Element. Doch als der Fischer mit seinem Begleiter von einem gewaltigen Sturm überrascht wird, muss er hilflos mit ansehen, wie sie in eine unbekannte Welt abtreiben. Mit schwindenden Trinkwasser- und Nahrungsmittelvorräten, ohne Funkgerät und GPS und mit kaputtem Motor driften sie durch die unendliche Weite des Ozeans. Wo sie von tropischen Wirbelstürmen und gnadenloser Hitze heimgesucht werden und tapfer gegen die absolute Stille kämpfen. Aber nur Alvarenga überlebt. Er trinkt das Blut von Schildkröten, fängt Vögel mit bloßen Händen und trägt Mokassins aus Haihaut sowie Schildkrötenpanzer zum Schutz vor der Sonne – bis die Irrfahrt nach über einem Jahr auf den Marshallinseln ein Ende hat. Ein brillanter und fesselnder Bericht über den unbändigen Willen eines Mannes und die Unergründlichkeit des Meeres.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), Sebastian Dunkelberg (Narrator)

Audiobook

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

The incredible true survival story of one man's record-breaking fourteen months lost at sea. On 17th November, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga left the coast of Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm killed his engine and the current dragged his boat out to sea. The storm picked up and carried him West, deeper into the heart of the Pacific Ocean. Alvarenga would not touch solid ground again for fourteen months. When he was washed ashore on January 30th, 2014, he had drifted over 9,000 miles. Three dozen cruise ships and container vessels passed nearby. Not one stopped for the stranded fisherman. He considered suicide on multiple occasions – including offering himself up to a pack of circling sharks. But Alvarenga developed a method of survival that kept his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to spit him up onto a remote palm-studded island. Crawling ashore, he was saved by a local couple living in their own private castaway paradise. Based on dozens of hours of interviews with Alvarenga and his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to normality, 438 Days by Jonathan Franklin is an epic tale of survival and one man's incredible story of beating the ultimate odds.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

Audiobook

Two Owls At Eton - A True Story

Two Owls at Eton - a classic British tale of eccentricity, education and owls. Witty, poignant and nostalgic, this bestselling memoir continues to find new fans and delight young and old alike. Now available for the first time in audiobook. When Jonathan Franklin takes two baby tawny owls back to Eton, he has no idea how chaotic the following months will be. The birds show no respect for Etonian routine and tradition. They trash his room and rule his daily life, and are known throughout the school as 'Dum' and 'Dee'. Although a keen naturalist, Jonathan struggles to understand his charges and to find the right food for them; at first meat and feathers, soon mice and rats. Even so, they nearly die of malnutrition on two occasions. Frantic, he searches for natural food. How to keep them alive is a constant worry. He watches them grow from ugly balls of fluff into beautiful adults, every change of plumage and behaviour noted. They play truant, they shock others, and lead Jonathan into hilarious adventures. They charm his housemaster and everybody who meets them. Best of all is seeing them flying about over those famous playing fields. All the time, Jonathan works to train them for eventual return to the wild. Will that be possible? He is never sure whether he will succeed.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), Jonathan Franklin (Narrator)

Audiobook

438 Days: An Extraordinary True Story of Survival at Sea

438 Days is the exclusive account of the longest ever survival at sea. On November 17, 2012, Salvador Alvarenga, a 37-year-old Salvadoran fisherman, and his day-laborer companion Ezequiel Cordoba left Mexico for a two-day fishing trip. A vicious storm dragged their boat 200 kilometers out to sea and when the motor died, they drifted west. No radio, no electronics equipment, no sail. Four months later, Cordoba died. Alvaregna would not hit solid ground for another fourteen months. When Alvarenga washed ashore on January 29, 2014, he landed in the Marshall Islands. His journey spanned 11,800 kilometers, equivalent to traveling from New York to New Delhi, or Paris to Perth. Alvarenga is the first person ever to have survived for over a year lost at sea. This is his exclusive story. Alvarenga survived constant shark attacks, learned to catch fish with his bare hands, and built a fish net from a pair of empty plastic bottles. Taking apart the outboard motor, he fashioned a huge fishhook. Using fish vertebrae as needles, he stitched together his own clothes. When the sun scorched his naked body, he used an upside-down turtle shell as a hat. His ingenuity and discipline were remarkable and make for an incredible listening experience. He considered suicide on multiple occasions -including offering himself up to a pack of sharks. But Alvarenga invented a world of survival that would keep his body and mind intact long enough for the Pacific Ocean to toss him up on a remote palm-studded island, inhabited only by a young American couple who were shocked to see the apparation that was Alvaregna staggering toward their home. He had spent two Christmases, two New Years, and all of 2013 adrift at sea. This is the first time Alvaregna has told his entire story. For many months, he was too traumatized to speak in detail about his odyssey, but in August he began an extraordinary series of interviews with Jonathan Franklin. He continues to work with Jonathan to provide the exclusive story of his record-breaking survival. Based on dozens of hours with Alvarenga and interviews with his colleagues, search and rescue officials, the medical team that saved his life and the remote islanders who nursed him back to life, 438 DAYS is an epic tale of survival, will and the triumph of one man who beat the odds.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), George Newbern (Narrator)

Audiobook

The 33

The miraculous survival and dramatic rescue of the Chilean miners On 12 October 2010 the world's attention was fixed on a remote Chilean mine. Final preparations were underway for a daring rescue to end the longest underground entrapment in human history. Learn how 33 trapped men and the rescuers dedicated to saving them created a miracle in the desert. What those men experienced in the claustrophobic dark of the mine, and how their families kept faith, make this an unforgettable story. As the only print journalist with full access to the rescue efforts, Jonathan Franklin takes us deep into the collapsed mine, and behind the scenes of the rescue effort.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), Sam Dale (Narrator)

Audiobook

33 Men: Inside the Miraculous Survival and Dramatic Rescue of the Chilean Miners

Having had unparalleled access to the Chilean mine disaster, award-winning journalist Jonathan Franklin takes readers to the heart of a remarkable story of human endurance, survival, and historic heroism. 33 Men is the groundbreaking, authoritative account of the Chilean mine disaster, one of the longest human entrapments in history. Rushing to the scene when the miners were discovered, Franklin obtained a coveted "Rescue Team" pass and reported directly from the front lines of the rescue operation, beyond police controls, for six weeks. Based on more than 110 intimate interviews with the miners, their families, and the rescue team, Franklin's narrative captures the remarkable story of these men and women, in details shocking, beautiful, comedic, and heroic. Gripping and raw with never-before-revealed details, 33 Men is a true story that reads like a thriller.

Jonathan Franklin (Author), Armando Valdez Kennedy, Tony Chiroldes (Narrator)

Audiobook