Call Me Ishmaelle
by Xiaolu Guo
The White Whale Story You Didn't Know you Needed (12/17/2025)
What an amazing journey. This book was everything I hoped it would be. Ihe publisher is promoting this book as "feminist retelling of Moby-Dick," and it is exactly that - but better. After the deaths of her parents and baby sister, and the departure of her beloved older brother for the seas,
Ishmaelle feels restless in her small town in coastal England. She can't bear the thought of spending the rest of her days toiling in a rope factory. Her crush on an American ship captain plants a seed in her head. When he leaves England to return home, Ishmaelle cuts her hair, dons her brother's clothes, and talks her way onto a ship bound for New York as Ishmael. Once in Manhattan Ishmaelle learns her beloved ship captain perished on his journey home. Grieving, she makes her way to New Bedford, Massachusetts, and finds work on the whaling vessel Nimrod.
The bones of this book mirror its predecessor, Melviille's Moby-Dick. The Nimrod is populated by African and African American soldiers, many of whom had previously been enslaved. Ishmaelle becomes especially close to Kauri, a Polynesian harpooner who was exiled from his island in the South Pacific. Together they journey across the globe, killing whales for their oil. The ship's captain, Seneca, is obsessed with killing the white whale who bit off one of his legs. His obsession is cause for concern among the sailors, and not without consequences as the journey progresses.
It's not really a spoiler to say that Ishmael is eventually exposed as Ishmaelle. But rather than ending her whaling career, the captain embraces her. As a man, Ishmaelle survived. As a woman, she excelled, dominated even. The unfurling of her story will stay with me for quite some time.
Thank you to Grove Atlantic for this ARC. I hope my words convince people to read it, because it's not to be missed.
The Safekeep
by Yael van der Wouden
A much-needed fresh take on WWII fiction (6/8/2025)
I loved this book. It was my favorite of 2024. As a would-be writer, the author's nuanced character development - Isabel's aggressive type A traits and Eva's masterful infiltration while playing the sloppy fool - were done to perfection. PERFECTION. The love story made me swoon and the ending! Wow. I loved this. So much.
