Whalefall - Daniel Kraus
Details
Jay Gardiner is a 17-year-old scuba diver on a mission: to find the remains of his deceased father in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Monastery Beach. His dive begins well enough, until the sudden appearance of a giant squid and a sperm whale intent on devouring it. Jay becomes entangled in the chase, gets drawn into the whale's mouth, and swallowed into the first of its four stomachs. He quickly realizes he has only one hour before his oxygen tanks run out--one hour to defeat his demons and escape the belly of a whale.
Whalefall (Daniel Kraus, 2023) is a story of family, grief, and self-discovery. The book opens with a quote from Herman Melville, and the first reference to a whale's fluke, like "a comma in a sentence so large only gods can read it," reinforces the tone. This is a story that takes you somewhere unexpected and much deeper than any ocean depth. It is part Biblical allegory, the Old Testament theme retold in a contemporary setting.
A movie adaptation of Whalefall is currently in production and set to be released in October, 2026. Daniel Kraus is also co-author (with Guillermo del Toro) of the novelization of another ocean-based adventure, The Shape of Water.
Whalefall:
Supplemental:
- The Sunday Story: Author Daniel Kraus talks about his novel Whalefall : Up First from NPR
- Daniel Kraus and book tour publicity
Extracts:
- "But if this whale be a king, he is a very sulky looking fellow to grace a diadem." (Moby-Dick, 75)
This meetup is part of the series In the Belly of the Whale.