Length5h 6m
About this audiobook
The Tragedy of the Korosko (later retitled A Desert Drama) is a gripping adventure novel that thrusts a group of European tourists into the dangers of the Egyptian desert in the 1890s. A motley party – including an English clergyman, a French academic, two American women, an Irish maiden aunt, and others – are enjoying a leisurely Nile river excursion on the Korosko steamer when they are ambushed and kidnapped by Mahdist rebels (dervishes) from Sudan. In Doyle's fast-paced narrative, the hostages endure a harrowing march into the desert, suffering heat, thirst, and the ever-present threat of death at the hands of fanatical captors. Around campfires, the Mahdists debate executing their infidel prisoners, providing Doyle an opportunity to explore clashing ideologies of the era – Victorian Christians versus Islamic extremists – with surprising even-handedness and moments of mutual respect. The captives unite in bravery; notable is the transformation of some characters, like the timid English bachelor who finds courage he didn't know he had. The climax is pure suspense: just as executions loom, an Anglo-Egyptian military patrol launches a fierce rescue attack, resulting in a dramatic battle under the desert sun. Bullets fly, and the fate of each tourist hangs in the balance – not everyone survives unscathed. Doyle based elements of the story on real incidents of the time (the Mahdist Wars), lending authenticity to the peril. The Tragedy of the Korosko combines travelogue detail with white-knuckle action, ultimately celebrating human resilience and cross-cultural camaraderie forged in adversity. It's a fine example of Doyle's talent for thriller writing beyond Sherlock Holmes, showcasing imperial adventure with both critique and excitement.
Audiobook details
Rating★★★★ 3.6 (677)
Includes Goodreads, LibraryThing
GenreAction and Adventure, Historical Fiction
Length5 hrs 6 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
Publish dateAug 1, 2025
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1The tragedy of the “korosko”
7CHAPTER V
2THE TRAGEDY OF THE “KOROSKO”
8CHAPTER VI
3CHAPTER I
9CHAPTER VII
4CHAPTER II
10CHAPTER VIII
5CHAPTER III
11CHAPTER IX
Show all chaptersShow less
6CHAPTER IV
12CHAPTER X
The Adventure of the Blue CarbuncleArthur Conan Doyle41m4.2 (16.6K)$1 · $0.00
The Valley of FearArthur Conan Doyle5h 10m4.1 (73.1K)$1 · $0.00
El misterio de CloomberArthur Conan Doyle5h 28m3.6 (1.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Problem of Thor BridgeArthur Conan Doyle52m3.6 (1.4K)$1 · $0.00
The Crooked ManArthur Conan Doyle36m4.0 (3.9K)$1 · $0.00
An Epilogue of Sherlock HolmesArthur Conan Doyle34m4.0 (2.5K)$1 · $0.00
The Yellow FaceArthur Conan Doyle37m4.0 (12.1K)$1 · $0.00
The Adventure of Wisteria LodgeArthur Conan Doyle1h 1m4.0 (3.9K)$1 · $0.00
The Resident PatientArthur Conan Doyle39m3.9 (3.6K)$1 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes - The NovelsArthur Conan Doyle20h 38m$13 · $0.00
Der Doktor und sein PatientArthur Conan Doyle47m3.9 (15.4K)$10 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes, The Full 60 StoriesArthur Conan Doyle60h 1m4.5 (5.7K)$23
Neues von Sherlock Holmes - Die Hörbücher - Folge 33: Sherlock Holmes und der verschwundene BuehnenbildnerArthur Conan Doyle, Johanna M. Rieke55m$12 · $0.00
Neues von Sherlock Holmes - Die Hörbücher - Folge 35: Sherlock Holmes und der Sohn des FalschmuenzersArthur Conan Doyle, Michael Buttler6h 47m$12 · $0.00
The Greatest Mystery Classics of All TimeArthur Conan Doyle, Josephine Tey, Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, Edgar Allan Poe, Émile Gaboriau, H. P. Lovecraft, G. K. Chesterton, Wilkie Collins, Daniel Defoe, Charles Dickens, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Anne Brontë, Alexandre Dumas, Thomas Hardy, Joseph Conrad, Robert Louis Stevenson, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Jules Verne, Mark Twain, Henry James, Anton Chekhov, Nikolai Gogol, Walter Scott, D. H. Lawrence, Oscar Wilde, H. G. Wells, Edgar Wallace, R. Austin Freeman, Anna Katharine Green, Mary Roberts Rinehart, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Margery Allingham, Freeman Wills Crofts, Cyril Hare, Shirley Jackson, Ernest Bramah, Sapper, Arthur Morrison, Marie Belloc Lowndes, Dorothy L. Sayers, John Buchan, Robert William Chambers, E. Phillips Oppenheim, Richard Marsh, Annie Haynes, Maurice Leblanc, Gaston Leroux, John P. Marquand, Patricia Wentworth, Ethel Lina White, Sinclair Lewis, Theodore Dreiser, Bram Stoker, Sheridan Le Fanu, William Hope Hodgson, Algernon Blackwood, Washington Irving, Guy de Maupassant, E. C. Bentley, A. A. Milne, Erskine Childers, Earl Derr Biggers1023h 28m4.3 (116)$1.99 · $0.00
Neues von Sherlock Holmes - Die Hörbücher - Folge 34: Sherlock Holmes und die automatische KombinationsmaschineArthur Conan Doyle, Klaus-Peter Walter2h 47m$12 · $0.00
Onkel Bernac (Historischer Roman)Arthur Conan Doyle7h 52m3.6 (500)$1 · $0.00
TRUE CRIME: British Murder MysteriesArthur Conan Doyle5h 53m3.7 (22)$0.99 · $0.00
The Complete Short Stories of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Illustrated Edition)Arthur Conan Doyle166h 25m4.4 (208)$1.99 · $0.00
Sherlock Holmes: Complete Novels & Stories in One VolumeArthur Conan Doyle94h 56m4.6 (272.6K)$0.99 · $0.00
Ship of the Line (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith11h 13m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
ShivajiRanjit Desai25h 13m4.6 (3.1K)$24 · $0.00
The Road to Gundagai (The Matilda Saga, #3)Jackie French12h 31m4.6 (1.2K)$33 · $0.00
TimelessR. A. Salvatore12h 30m4.5 (8K)$33 · $0.00
An Inside JobDaniel Silva9h 28m4.4 (26.3K)$29 · $0.00
The CommodoreP. T. Deutermann11h 53m4.5 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
A Closed and Common OrbitBecky Chambers11h 30m4.4 (140.7K)$29 · $0.00
Thud!Terry Pratchett10h 31m4.4 (112.6K)$8 · $0.00
All Quiet on the Western Front (Annotated)Erich Maria Remarque8h 34m4.4 (12.9K)$1.99 · $0.00
Exit FeeBrad Taylor3h 16m4.5 (1.9K)$18 · $0.00
The Alice NetworkKate Quinn15h 7m4.4 (887.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Ohio River Trilogy: Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border & The Last TrailZane Grey29h 8m4.4 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
A Darkness ReturnsRaymond E. Feist19h 29m4.4 (1.9K)$40 · $0.00
THE VALLEY OF SILENT MEN (Annotated)James Oliver Curwood8h 25m4.5 (420)$2 · $0.00
West of the TularosaLouis L’Amour5h 53m4.4 (3.6K)$20 · $0.00
The Emperor's FistJay Allan8h 37m4.5 (272)$26 · $0.00
The Amazing Interlude (Annotated)Mary Roberts Rinehart8h 42m4.5 (365)$1.99 · $0.00
Hornblower and the Hotspur (Annotated)C. S. Forester14h 7m4.4 (17.3K)$2 · $0.00
Shades of WickedJeaniene Frost8h 51m4.4 (19.5K)$29 · $0.00
The Log of a Cowboy (Annotated)Andy Adams9h 47m4.4 (1.1K)$2 · $0.00
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
A Christmas Carol (Illustrated Edition)Charles Dickens3h 23m4.5 (21.2K)$0.99 · $0.00
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m4.5 (48.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m4.5 (2.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m4.5 (5.3K)$23 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m4.5 (9.5K)$25 · $0.00
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m4.4 (4.7M)$2 · $0.00
Flying Colours (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith9h 26m4.4 (10.1K)$2 · $0.00
With Love from HarlemReShonda Tate13h 48m4.5 (2K)$6 · $0.00
Sweet Home Highland ChristmasMay McGoldrick, Jan Coffey2h 54m4.5 (1.4K)$7 · $0.00
Rilla of InglesideL. M. Montgomery12h 25m4.4 (67.5K)$2 · $0.00
Death Comes for the Archbishop (Annotated)Willa Cather9h 13m4.4 (4.7K)$2 · $0.00
The Long FallPenelope Wilcock8h 5m4.5 (458)$20 · $0.00
The Alice NetworkKate Quinn15h 7m4.4 (887.1K)$33 · $0.00
The Goddess of WarsawLisa Barr13h 4m4.4 (36.4K)$33 · $0.00
The Ohio River Trilogy: Betty Zane, The Spirit of the Border & The Last TrailZane Grey29h 8m4.4 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
The Attic ChildLola Jaye14h 46m4.4 (21K)$33 · $0.00
Martyr of the CatacombsJames De Mille3h 41m4.5 (744)$1 · $0.00
Quo VadisHenryk Sienkiewicz22h 52m4.4 (62K)$21 · $0.00
You may also like
The Last of the Mohicans A Narrative of 1757James Fenimore Cooper15h 39m3.8 (133.6K)Free
Gone to GroundBronwyn Hall7h 56m4.3 (678)$27 · $0.00
By Force of ArmsJames L. Nelson10h 15m4.2 (1.2K)$20
TyphoonJoseph Conrad3h 18m3.9 (7.3K)$2.30 · $0.00
Rough RidersMark Lee Gardner9h 41m4.1 (1.7K)$29 · $0.00
Through the DesertHenryk Sienkiewicz14h 47m3.7 (13.3K)$1 · $0.00
The Last of the MohicansJames Fenimore Cooper2h 14m3.8 (134K)$1 · $0.00
The Finest Hours (Young Readers Edition)Michael J. Tougias, Casey Sherman3h 43m4.3 (4.5K)$15
Viper PilotDan Hampton9h 53m4.3 (5.2K)$29 · $0.00
The Man-Eaters of Tsavo, and Other East African AdventuresJ. H. Patterson5h 40m4.1 (8.7K)$1 · $0.00
The RefugeesArthur Conan Doyle12h 51m3.9 (1.8K)$1 · $0.00
Anabasis (Annotated)Xenophon11h 40m4.3 (408)$2 · $0.00
The Forest RunnersJoseph A. Altsheler8h 14m$1 · $0.00
The Tragedy of the KoroskoSir Arthur Conan Doyle5h 2m3.6 (495)$20
The Tragedy of the KoroskoSir Arthur Conan Doyle5h 20m3.6 (843)$12 · $0.00
Apache DevilEdgar Rice Burroughs7h 42m3.9 (370)$2.30
Captain Cuellar's Adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588 (Annotated)Hugh Allingham, Francisco de active 16th century Cuellar3h 1m3.8 (14)$1.99 · $0.00
Captain Cuellar's Adventures in Connaught & Ulster A.D. 1588Hugh Allingham, Francisco de active 16th century Cuellar3h 6m3.7 (15)$2 · $0.00
A Desert Drama: Being the Tragedy Of The KoroskoSir Arthur Conan Doyle5h 14m3.7 (884)$12 · $0.00
The Lifeboat A Tale of our Coast HeroesR. M. Ballantyne9h 43m3.8 (17)$2.30