diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-hdf5r/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-hdf5r/package.py
index 0c1797d9dc..860270bafe 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-hdf5r/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/r-hdf5r/package.py
@@ -7,7 +7,9 @@
 
 
 class RHdf5r(RPackage):
-    """'HDF5' is a data model, library and file format for storing and managing
+    """Interface to the 'HDF5' Binary Data Format
+
+    'HDF5' is a data model, library and file format for storing and managing
     large amounts of data. This package provides a nearly feature complete,
     object oriented wrapper for the 'HDF5' API
     <https://support.hdfgroup.org/HDF5/doc/RM/RM_H5Front.html> using R6
@@ -18,6 +20,7 @@ class RHdf5r(RPackage):
     url      = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/hdf5r_1.2.0.tar.gz"
     list_url = "https://cloud.r-project.org/src/contrib/Archive/hdf5r"
 
+    version('1.3.3', sha256='a0f83cbf21563e81dbd1a1bd8379623ed0c9c4df4e094c75013abfd7a5271545')
     version('1.2.0', sha256='58813e334fd3f9040038345a7186e5cb02090898883ac192477a76a5b8b4fe81')
 
     depends_on('r@3.2.2:', type=('build', 'run'))