About this audiobook
Captain Stormfield's journey after death takes him into a heaven far less familiar than the pictures he has carried from earthly life. The old sailor approaches this extraordinary destination with curiosity, confidence and the habits of his former profession. Encounters along the way repeatedly expose the narrowness of the expectations he has brought with him.
Mark Twain gives the fantastic voyage the energy of a conversational travel account. A universe of immense variety makes human assumptions about importance look provincial, while Stormfield tries to understand arrangements that do not automatically reproduce earthly rankings. The contrast between his practical questions and his new surroundings creates much of the humour.
The story uses an imagined afterlife to examine vanity, belonging and the limits of received ideas. Its satire asks how people might reconsider distinction and value when familiar measures of status no longer seem adequate, allowing wonder and comedy to develop through the same widening perspective.
