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

Inspired by a brief passage in Herman Melville's Moby-Dick, this novel is an enthralling saga that tells the life story of Una Spenser, the woman who becomes Captain Ahab's wife. The story opens with the line, "Captain Ahab was neither my first husband nor my last," and flashes back to Una's childhood in Kentucky and her adolescence living at a lighthouse on Nantucket Island. At sixteen, Una, disguised as a cabin boy, runs off to sea, where she experiences a shipwreck, becomes one of only three survivors of a catastrophic event, and marries her first husband, Kit, in a ceremony performed by the handsome Captain Ahab aboard the Pequod. Kit's descent into madness and his eventual disappearance lead Una to marry Ahab, a relationship that is passionate and intellectually satisfying until Ahab loses his leg to the white whale Moby Dick and becomes consumed by a quest for revenge. The narrative follows Una's spiritual and intellectual journey, which includes her life as a mother and captain's wife in Nantucket, her involvement in social issues like slavery, and her search for identity, which brings her into contact with real-life figures such as Frederick Douglass and astronomer Maria Mitchell. After Ahab is lost at sea, Una continues to build a life for herself, eventually finding peace and fulfillment by meeting the only survivor of the Pequod's final voyage, Ishmael, and having a daughter with him. It is a story of a woman's triumph over tragedy and loss through her courage, creativity, and intelligence.

Store Availability