Ahab’s Return: or, The Last Voyage

George Harrow works for a popular newspaper but spends more time conjuring up stories than investigating them. But even he couldn’t imagine what will unfold when Captain Ahab walks into his office, looking for former crewman Ishmael. Ishmael’s lies and exaggerations in Moby-Dick have led Ahab on a desperate search for his family, who believe him to be dead. As Harrow offers to help Ahab — hoping for great story material by doing so — he embarks on an impossible journey.

The power of stories themselves is at the heart of Ahab’s Return. Ishmael’s tale serves as the launchpad, and as we learn the truths and falsehoods behind the Melville classic, further stories spiral outward, both mundane and extraordinary, all of them weaving into a grand narrative tapestry that will leave both the characters and the reader pondering what was truth and what was fiction.

Moby-Dick loyalists and those who disdain fantasy may take issue with the book, but it’s still worth your time. It’s an immensely ambitious undertaking, and Ford makes it seem effortless. The investigation has its stops and starts, but the story never halts for an instant, mixing and matching New York history with literary gospel to create something truly unexpected.