From the bestselling author of the "dazzling historical saga" (The
Washington Post), Moloka'i, comes the irresistible story of a young
immigrant bride in a ramshackle town that becomes a great modern city**
"In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough
to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which
often reflected the parents' feelings on the birth of a daughter: I knew
a girl named Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named
me Regret."
Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young "picture bride"
who journeys to Hawai'i in 1914 in search of a better life.
Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that
she has been promised, she is quickly married off to a poor, embittered
laborer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself
Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both
opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture
brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a
small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today.
But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for
survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most
infamous in the islands' history...
With its passionate knowledge of people and places in Hawai'i far off
the tourist track, Honolulu is most of all the spellbinding tale of
four women in a new world, united by dreams, disappointment, sacrifices,
and friendship.
