A supurb work of historical fiction recommended for everyone!
Bring your tissues and sense of humor, for this emotional and uplifting work of historical fiction will be sure to have you smiling and crying...sometimes at the very same line!
I am so awed that this novel was written by a man, as Mr. Brennert so thoroughly and accurrately captured the complexity of female relationships- sisters, mothers-daughters; frienships, etc. As I felt upon reading another wonderful work of historical fiction, "Memoirs of A Geisha," I was that much more impressed by the fact of the author's gender and ability to tell the story from the female perspective in a manner which undoubtedly rings true.
Mr. Brennert's researching skills and love of Hawaii - its culture, language and traditions - are evident throughout this multi-generational story about a young girl torn apart from her family and sent (sentenced?) to live in the leper colony in Moloka'i. While I admittedly knew very little about the disease, and Moloka'i, prior to picking up this book, I found it extremely engrossing and hungered to know more - and the author truly delivered, leaving no aspect of what life must have been like there unexplored.
Whether or not this topic sounds like it would interest you, the real reason this novel is so universally appealing is the depth and profoundness of the characters' inter-relationships and love. This is a novel for everyone, would make an incredible book club selection, and I am personally passing along copies to all my friends, since it is one of the best books I have read in a long time and think everyone will love it!
