Why read Ahab's Wife?

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?

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

Kelly Bennett

Author

Moby Dick, Captain Ahab, even the first line of Melville’s book “Call me Ishmael” are easy Jeopardy answers but Ahab’s wife??? It took Sena Jeter Naslund to imagine the resourceful Una, and create for her an epic journey from Kentucky cabin to lighthouse, high seas adventure, high drama and ferocious love—a life that would touch on and be touched by religious zeal, slavery, whaling, suffragettes, astronomy and longing and redemption—never resignation.

From Kelly's 3 favorite reads in 2024.

Beth Powning

Author

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.

From Beth's list on The best books about women in dangerous situations and past times.