Ahab's Return - by Jeffrey Ford (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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 ocean's depths by a harpoon line, and the greatly exaggerated rumors of his untimely death have caused him grievous harm--after hearing about Ahab's demise, his wife and child left Nantucket for New York, and now Ahab is on a desperate quest to find them"--

Book Synopsis

"Jeffrey Ford is one of the few writers who uses wonder instead of ink in his pen." - Jonathan Carroll

A bold and intriguing fabulist novel that reimagines two of the most legendary characters in American literature--Captain Ahab and Ishmael of Herman Melville's Moby-Dick--from 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 ocean's depths by a harpoon line, and the greatly exaggerated rumors of his untimely death have caused him grievous harm--after hearing about Ahab's demise, his wife and child left Nantucket for New York, and now Ahab is on a desperate quest to find them.

Ahab's pursuit leads him to The Gorgon's 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 press's 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 investigation--like Ahab's own story--will 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, Ahab's 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.

From the Back Cover

A bold and intriguing fabulist novel that reimagines one of the most legendary characters in American literature--Captain Ahab of Herman Melville's Moby Dick--from 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 discover that he is a dead man--a walking ghost, whose tragic demise was detailed in a notorious fiction called Moby Dick. The consternated captain is eager to confront the true author of the novel, his former shipmate Ishmael. For Ahab was not pulled into the ocean's depths by a harpoon line, and the greatly exaggerated rumors of his untimely death have caused him grievous harm--after receiving news of Ahab's fate, his wife and son, Gabriel, left Nantucket for New York, and now Ahab is on a desperate quest to reunite with them.

Ahab's pursuit leads him to the Gorgon's Mirror, the sensationalist tabloid that employed Ishmael as a copy editor while he wrote the haunting tale of the ill-fated Pequod. In the penny press's office, Ahab meets George Harrow, a clever and inspired opportunist and a master of hokum. Eager to exploit Ahab's misadventures, he strikes a deal with the captain: the newspaperman will help him navigate the city to find his lost family in exchange for the exclusive story of his salvation from the mouth of the great white whale.

Their investigation--like Ahab's own story--takes unexpected, dangerous, and ultimately tragic turns, and leads Ahab and Harrow on a wondrous odyssey from the docks of lower Manhattan to the treacherous Five Points and subterranean opium dens, to the free black settlement of Seneca Village and the magnificent New York Crystal Palace, and to the Indian Caves and the wilds of northern Manhattan. For Ahab, Harrow, and the diverse cohort of allies they enlist in their quest, the trail ends in an epic battle with a mysterious, seemingly magical, entity who thrives in the shadows and feasts on the nativist sentiments roiling New York--the grotesque Malbaster, who directs his horde of violent street urchins, the Jolly Host, to prey on the innocent, most notably the city's new immigrants and blacks. But his most powerful weapon is a terrifying creature whose existence may be entwined with the captain's own past.

Told with wisdom, suspense, a modicum of dry humor and horror, and a vigorous stretching of the truth, Ahab's Return charts an enthralling and intriguing voyage involving one of the most memorable characters in classic literature, and pays homage to one of the greatest novels ever written. It is a love letter to a dangerous, thrilling, and colorful New York long past as well as an exploration of the art of literature and the imaginative power of stories to illuminate the truths of life and reveal who we are.

Review Quotes

"Unusual and gripping. . . .Fans of successful reimaginings of literary classics. . .will be entertained." -- Publishers Weekly

"It takes chutzpah to revive one of the most vivid yet most unknowable characters in all literature, let alone to place him in a story that celebrates its own essential pulpiness. . . . Jeffrey Ford has that chutzpah . . .[M]arvelous." -- SciFi Magazine ("A" rating)

"[A]n imaginary sequel to an imaginative work, a virtual or alternate vision. ... Primed for adventure, Harrow guides [Ahab] through New York's seething underworld on his quest and perchance to find fresh material. Of that, readers are dealt a-plenty." -- Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star

"Ford knows how to tell a story, whatever the genre, and how to get out of its way and when to stop, and here that makes for a great few hours between the covers. ... Sign on for this one; it's well worth the trip." -- Washington Independent Review of Books

"This is an adventure worthy of the captain. ... This fast-paced, occasionally acerbic, often bloody, but always entertaining story is an homage to Moby-Dick and a fitting continuation/conclusion of Ahab's story." -- New York Journal of Books

Praise for The Shadow Year:
"Jeffrey Ford is one of the few writers who uses wonder instead of ink in his pen." -- Jonathan Carroll, author of The Wooden Sea

"Properly creepy, but from time to time deliciously funny and heartbreakingly poignant, too. For those of you--and you know who you are--who think the indispensable element for good genre fiction is good writing, this is not to be missed."
-- Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Superb, heartbreaking, and masterfully written. . . . It's proof of Jeffrey Ford's narrative power that, ultimately, the distinction [between real and invented] doesn't much matter. His made-up world trumps ours." -- Magazine of Science Fiction and Fantasy

"A work of episodic beauty and mercurial significance." -- Locus

"Think Ray Bradbury's "Green Town" stories, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird and Stephen King's The Body (made into the film Stand by Me) and you get an idea of the tone of Ford's latest fine work. Grade: A" -- Denver Rocky Mountain News