About the Book

‘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 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 become a sailor. Abandoned and desperate for a life at sea, seventeen-year-old 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 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 realizes 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. 

Reviews

From Philip Hoare, author of Leviathan & The Sea Inside:

‘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. The result is as animal and visceral and shape-shifting and subversive as the broad back of the mythic whale themselves.’

From Carmella Lowis, author of Spitting Gold:

‘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.’

From Travis Elborough, author of Atlas of Forgotten Places:

‘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. ’

From Deborah Levy, author of Swimming Home & The Cost of Living:

‘When it comes to spinning light and shadow on the complexities of living, loving and language, Xiaolu Guo is one of the most valuable writers in the world.’

Bios

XIAOLU GUO was named one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists (a prestigious roster announced once a decade) in 2013, and her textual works have garnered appreciation from the likes of Doris Lessing and Ursula Le Guin. Xiaolu’s memoir Once Upon a Time in the East (2017) won the 2017 National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography and her novel A Lover’s Discourse (2020) was shortlisted for the 2020 Goldsmiths Prize, whilst more recent works include Radical, a Life of My Own (2021) and My Battle of Hastings (2024). Xiaolu acted as a member of the jury for the Man Booker Prize in 2019 and was the guest judge of the Swedenborg Film Festival in 2024.

IAIN SINCLAIR is considered one of London’s greatest chroniclers. Iain’s early work consisted mostly of poetry which he published on his own small press, Albion Village Press. His novels include Downriver (winner of the James Tait Black Prize and the Encore Prize) and Dining on Stones (shortlisted for the Ondaatje Prize). Non-fiction books, exploring the myth and matter of London, include Lights Out for the Territory, London Orbital and Ghost Milk: Calling Time on the Grand Project. For the Swedenborg Society he has written Blake’s London: The Topographic Sublime (2011); Swimming to Heaven: The Lost Rivers of London (2013); and (with Brian Catling) Several Clouds Colliding (2012).