Ahab's Wife

By Sena Jeter Naslund,

Book cover of Ahab's Wife: Or, The Star-Gazer: A Novel

Book description

From the opening line--"Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last"--you will know that you are in the hands of a masterful storyteller and in the company of a fascinating woman hero. Inspired by a brief passage in Melville's Moby-Dick, where Captain Ahab speaks passionately of his young…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Ahab's Wife as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This book inspired my own writing with its detailed rendering of 19th century life. It has all of my favourite things: lighthouses, ships, horses, buggies, wharves, and whales. “Captain Ahab was neither my first husband or my last.” How can you resist this first sentence? The novel’s massive lighthouse, and the child who has lived there all her life, inform some deep part of my world view.

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