G. J. Lau

Requiem for Ahab G. J. Lau

Anyone who has read Moby-Dick knows that Captain Ahab lost his life?and the lives of the crew of the Pequod?chasing the white whale, Moby Dick. The only survivor was a sailor named Ishmael. What you may not remember is that Ahab was survived by a young wife and child, Hannah and Thomas. Ahab's life has ended, but their lives must now go on without him. They move to a small town near Boston, where she meets and marries Aaron Stoddard. The years go by and Thomas Stoddard grows into a young man. Ahab's memory recedes deeper and deeper into a past seldom revisited by either mother or son. When the Civil War breaks out in 1861, Thomas enlists in the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry Regiment and sees action at Antietam and Chancellorsville. Then comes the Battle of Gettysburg, where Thomas is wounded and has his leg amputated. He can't help but remember Ahab's fate, and he wonders if he too will go mad. Thomas realizes he knows very little about his father's death ... or life. There is only one man who can help him discover the truth about his father?the one who called himself Ishmael. The search for Ishmael leads Thomas to the place where it all began, New Bedford. There lie the clues that will reveal long-buried secrets from the past, secrets Thomas must unravel if he is to find Ishmael and reclaim his own future. Requiem for Ahab is a tale about fathers and sons, war and its warriors, suffering and reconciliation.