Ahab's wife, or, The star-gazer : a novel / by Sena Jeter Naslund ; illustrations by Christopher Wormell.

A novel inspired by Herman Melville's Moby Dick.

A hardcover edition of this book was published in 1999 by William Morrow and Company, Inc.

A mild blue day -- The dirge -- The crossing -- Reverie -- The window -- The steamboat -- The paddlewheel -- The island -- A difficult farewell -- The giant -- Winter, summers -- New Bedford -- Boston -- The petrel -- A storm at night -- The brightness of brightness -- A rose -- Our lady of the rocks -- The return of the Petrel, with three letters -- A comb -- The fourth letter -- The camel -- The Sea-Fancy inn -- The Sussex -- The cabin boy -- The companion -- Captain Coffin's story-secondhand -- A whaleboat by moonlight -- Captain Morrell's story-thirdhand -- Captain Ahab's story-my first acquaintance with him -- Aloft -- "Pardon me" -- Reunion -- Revelation -- Sea storms -- The frost wind -- Collision -- The course -- The distance of the stars -- The sentence -- What do you fetch for your mouth? -- The beginning of the debate -- Father and son -- The human animal -- The Alba Albatross -- Ganglion -- Postscript on the above -- Soaring -- Portrait of a virgin listening -- Icarus -- The test -- The funeral -- The contest -- I am married -- Aboard the Pequod -- The hurricane house -- Ahab's jottings -- Kit's ruminations -- Starbuck introduces himself -- Ahab overheard -- A letter to the lighthouse -- Poor Kit's a-cold -- Arctic -- Ahab in his cabin -- Aloft, the Pequod -- Starbuck: ship's log -- Starbuck communes with Mary, his wife -- In the steward's pantry -- Ahab's comfort -- Nantucket-the faraway isle -- Ahab prepares for the next voyage -- Breakfast -- Shame -- B'twixt -- Enter: the gaoler and the judge -- On the moor -- A slow spring -- Churches -- Baptismal -- Fire -- Ahab addresses the flames -- Ahab's wife -- A sky full of angels -- Resurrection -- The purpose of art -- The office of a friend -- Childhood as an island -- The world of Rebekkah Swain -- Kentucky seasons -- A winter tale -- The burden -- The lantern -- Shakespeare and company -- The guide -- Getting started -- Forest murmurs -- In the Cupola -- To summer -- Wife -- The Mitchells -- Vestal street -- Ahab -- From Cupola to Wharf -- Idyll -- The comet -- Frannie's letter from an inland lighthouse -- An angry letter from Aunt Agatha -- Letter to an inland lighthouse -- The minister in the woods -- The history of snow and restlessness -- Altar rock -- Mothering -- Chowder swirls -- The birthing room -- The leg -- Christmas Eve -- A last glimpse of the Pequod: Christmas Day -- The Jeroboam returns -- The first part of Ahab's third voyage after his marriage -- Moon watch -- Letter from Susan -- The Samuel Enderby of London puts in for repairs at Nantucket -- The distress of justice -- To Siasconset -- The hedge -- Journey toward the starry sky, in present tense -- 'Sconset morning -- More of morning: Tashtego's feather makes the letter S -- The neighbor beyond the hedge -- The roar of guilt -- The return of the Delight -- The Perseid -- The woolsack -- Letter from Margaret Fuller, from England -- Letter from David Poland, Virginia -- Letter to beloved kin -- Letter from Margaret Fuller, from Italy -- The judge's invitation -- Mrs. Maynard's note -- Preparations -- Frannie -- Liberty and the dolphins -- A suitable marriage -- What has proved to be a last visit -- A song -- A squeeze of the hand -- Una preaches to the waves -- The great fire: June 1846 -- Reflections on a wreck -- During the pleasure party -- Celestial -- A new friend -- A sermon overheard -- Plans -- Recitation by beach fire -- Letter from Susan, forwarded -- The roof walk.

A companion to Herman Melville's "Moby-Dick," in which Una Spenser tells the story of her life, and discusses her loving marriage to Captain Ahab before the white whale took his leg and drove him into madness.