Ghost Sea

Ghost Sea by Ferenc Mate, Signed, First Edition

Albatross Books at W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2006. First edition, first printing (full number line)signed by the author on the title page. A fine, as new copy in a fine, as new, mylar-covered dust jacket.

Ghost Sea is a spellbinding tale of the sea, love, murder, and mysticism. At the turn of the century, a Kwakiutl warrior from British Columbia's wild northern islands raids an artifact collector's yacht to reclaim stolen sacred masks. He takes the collector's wife, Kate, as hostage on his 200-mile canoe voyage home. The collector hires Dugger, a coastal trader living on the edges of the law, to give chase in his ketch with the collector as passenger, but Dugger's financial salvation comes at a terrible price, for he is Kate's secret lover. Day and night Dugger sails the uncharted islands, through raging currents and ship-swallowing whirlpools, and the account of his pursuit is interwoven with Kate's harrowing and erotically charged journey.

Based on a true story, this novel reaches its thrilling climax at the last secret, hallucinatory potlatch of the ancient Kwakiutl culture, where the history of a doomed people is melded with the fury of three hearts.

"This is not only a gripping story but also one of the most dramatic and detailed sailing adventures of all time."

– Walter Cronkite