The Adventures of Roderick Random

Roderick Random is a young Scot with good blood, no money, and the worst luck in Britain. Disinherited by his grandfather, he heads for London and is promptly cheated, robbed, and finally press-ganged onto a Royal Navy warship, where Smollett, who had served as a naval surgeon's mate himself, delivers some of the most unsparing scenes of shipboard life ever put in a novel, including the botched, fever-ridden assault on Cartagena that he witnessed firsthand.

Between disasters Roderick schemes his way through drawing rooms and gambling tables, courts the lovely Narcissa, and is rescued repeatedly by Strap, the loyal friend he never quite deserves. Rude, energetic, and often savagely funny, this is the picaresque novel at full gallop, a young man's collisions with a world that hits back.

At roughly 186,600 words, The Adventures of Roderick Random runs about 20½ hours at 1x narration speed. That figure is an estimate based on a typical narration pace. The exact length depends on the voice and the playback speed you choose.

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