Moby-Dick reimagined from the perspective of a cross-dressed female sailor 'Brilliantly
written... ambitious brave strange' Philip Hoare 'One of the most valuable writers in the
world' Deborah Levy 1843. Ishmaelle is born in a small village on the stormy Kent coast where
she grows up swimming with dolphins. After her parents and infant sister die her brother
Joseph leaves to find work as a sailor. Abandoned and desperate for a life at sea Ishmaelle
disguises herself as a cabin boy and travels to New York. Call Me Ishmaelle reimagines the
epic battle between man and nature in Herman Melville's Moby Dick from a female perspective. As
the American Civil War breaks out in 1861 Ishmaelle boards the Nimrod a whaling ship led by
the obsessive Captain Seneca a Black free man of heroic stature who is haunted by a tragic
past. Here she finds protectors in Polynesian harpooner Kauri and Taoist monk Muzi whose
readings of the I-Ching guide their quest. Through the bloody male violence of whaling and
the unveiling of her feminine identity Ishmaelle realises there is a mysterious bond between
herself and the mythical white whale Moby Dick. Xiaolu Guo has crafted a dramatically
different feminist narrative that stands alongside the original while offering a powerful
exploration of nature gender and human purpose.
