Who is the Captain Ahab known to millions of readers? Didn't a young Ahab fall in love, and inhale the beauty of life? What happened to him? What indescribable loss pierced him? How, when, and why did he become Captain Ahab? Given Ahab's age and the date of the sinking, the backstory to Melville's Moby Dick, a work entitled "Ahab, a Love Story," comes from a timeline that is real. In this story, Ahab did live; he did love, and he did inhale the beauty of life. The History in this novel is actual. The ships' names, manifests and schedules are authentic. The astrological events, geographies, cultures, places, embedded stories, imprisonments, structures, battles...all occurred as documented in this story. While doing the research, I became eerily intrigued by the way in which everything lined up. Superimposed upon this backdrop of actual history and true-to-life events, we meet young Ahab, a fictional character. Yet, by story's end, one will wonder. . . Did young Ahab exist? For me, he did and does. So too did, and does, Abbie. Enjoy & Godspeed! Stephen Melillo