A bold and intriguing fabulist novel that reimagines two of the most legendary characters in American literatureâCaptain Ahab and Ishmael of Herman Melvilleâs Moby-Dickâfrom the critically acclaimed Edgar and World Fantasy award-winning author of The Girl in the Glass and The Shadow Year.
At the end of a long journey, Captain Ahab returns to the mainland to confront the true author of the novel Moby-Dick, his former shipmate, Ishmael. For Ahab was not pulled into the oceanâs depths by a harpoon line, and the greatly exaggerated rumors of his untimely death have caused him grievous harmâafter hearing about Ahabâs demise, his wife and child left Nantucket for New York, and now Ahab is on a desperate quest to find them.
Ahabâs pursuit leads him to The Gorgonâs Mirror, the sensationalist tabloid newspaper that employed Ishmael as a copy editor while he wrote the harrowing story of the ill-fated Pequod. In the penny pressâs office, Ahab meets George Harrow, who makes a deal with the captain: the newspaperman will help Ahab navigate the city in exchange for the exclusive story of his salvation from the mouth of the great white whale. But their investigationâlike Ahabâs own storyâwill take unexpected, dangerous, and ultimately tragic turns.
Told with wisdom, suspense, a modicum of dry humor and horror, and a vigorous stretching of the truth, Ahabâs Return charts an inventive and intriguing voyage involving one of the most memorable characters in classic literature, and pays homage to one of the greatest novels ever written.