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Call Me Ishmaelle
- Author
- Xiaolu Guo
- Narrator
- Isabel Adomakoh-Young
- Publisher
- Random House
- Publish Date
- 20 March 2025
- Run Time
- 10 hours 27 minutes
- Format
- Audiobook
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Historical fiction, Narrative theme: journeys and voyages, Fiction: pastiche, Sea stories, Narrative theme: diversity, equity, equality, inclusion, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Feminism and feminist theory, Narrative theme: environmental issues / the natural world
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What to expect
Brought to you by Penguin.
I must work on a ship as a man… Yes, I must seek a new life, more adventurous than that of my fellows on this desolate salt marsh. I must find freedom on the seas.
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.
© Xiaolu Guo 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
Critics Review
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An astonishingly ambitious undertaking . . . you’re in the hands of a genuine storyteller
New York Times Book Review
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'A brilliantly written reordering of Moby-Dick, ambitious, brave, and strange, from the imagination of this natural-born storyteller. There's a cinematic, global sweep to its motion, and an unbridled energy and poetry to its dramatic words'
Philip Hoare
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Guo has gender-flipped this intimidating text with bravura and style… Call Me Ishmaelle takes us on a courageous journey: it’s no aping of a classic, rather a vision of a young woman sailing out to discover not a whale but her own self. And in that, it happily succeeds
Daily Telegraph
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Well worth your time . . . By adding in new characters while adhering to the original story, the author creates something new, strange and thrilling
Los Angeles Times
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A clever and original skewering of a classic
i
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'It’s a propulsive, powerhouse of a read that doesn’t just stand on its own literary feet, it does so with such skill and verve that it might – just might – have you turning to its source material in a new light.'
Marie Claire
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Guo gives renewed forms of life to Melville’s immense novel… [and] genuine innovation… Ishmaelle has her own story to tell, and a changing audience will want to listen
Times Literary Supplement
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Guo’s narrative style is full of energy and Call Me Ishmaelle deftly incorporates philosophical questions about our relationship with nature and gender-dysphoria into the plot, constantly tugging at the heartstrings
New Statesman
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'Call Me Ishmaelle is a glorious female-led retelling of a classic, combining seafaring adventure with beautifully immersive prose. Exploring gender identity, race and our relationship to the natural world, Xiaolu Guo reinvigorates Herman Melville's story while staying true to its heart.'
Carmella Lowkis, author of Spitting Gold
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'From the bones of Melville's Great White Whale, Xiaolu Guo has fashioned a novel as wonderful captivating and sea-soaked, that's seems both timeless and very much of today.'
Travis Elborough, author of Atlas of Forgotten Places
User Reviews
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Details
- Author
- Xiaolu Guo
- Narrator
- Isabel Adomakoh-Young
- Duration
- 10 hours 27 minutes
- Release Date
- 20 March 2025
- ISBN
- 9781529942491
- Format
- Audiobook
- Publisher
- Random House
- Genre
- Modern and contemporary fiction: literary and general, Historical fiction, Narrative theme: journeys and voyages, Fiction: pastiche, Sea stories, Narrative theme: diversity, equity, equality, inclusion, Narrative theme: love / relationships, Feminism and feminist theory, Narrative theme: environmental issues / the natural world
Synopsis
Brought to you by Penguin. I must work on a ship as a man… Yes, I must seek a new life, more adventurous than that of my fellows on this desolate salt marsh. I must find freedom on the seas.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.© Xiaolu Guo 2025 (P) Penguin Audio 2025
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