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Xiaolu Guo’s "subversive" retelling of Moby Dick in Call Me Ishmaelle has gone to Chatto & Windus.
Kaiya Shang, commissioning editor, acquired world all-language rights from Rebecca Carter at Rebecca Carter Literary. The novel will be published in spring 2025.
"I can’t think of a writer whose take on the story and themes of Moby Dick I would be more interested to read, and Xiaolu is at the ideal point in her writing life to tackle a book of this scope and ambition," said Carter. "It’s a future classic in the making."
Call Me Ishmaelle is told from the perspective of a cross-dressing female sailor which reimagines "the epic battle between man and nature in Herman Melville’s Moby Dick". The writer and film-maker’s story is pitched as a "dramatically different, feminist narrative that stands alongside the original while offering a powerful exploration of nature, gender and human purpose".
The synopsis reads: "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."
Guo said: "This is a bold new experiment for me, stepping out of my comfort zone. The novel is a homage to an American master, but with transgressive twists. My long-standing publisher Chatto, my editor Kaiya Shang and my agent Rebecca Carter, as well as the wondrous I-Ching, have guided me through the unknown to a new work of which I feel proud."
Shang added: "Xiaolu Guo is a remarkable stylist whose memoirs have long inspired me as an editor, and we are thrilled to be publishing Call Me Ishmaelle – a deeply researched, fascinating and unique addition to feminist retellings and female-led historical fiction that strikes the perfect balance between faithfulness to the source text and subverting it in an ingenious way. This is an exciting new direction for a longstanding and beloved Chatto author."