The island child: stories from Molokai

Abstract

This collection of stories explores the lives of characters from Molokaÿi. It also explores the nature of stories. This work of fiction has its roots in books like Pouliuli, Potiki, and The River Between. Aside from the quote by John Charlot, nothing else should be considered true. Excerpt: "He was Hoolehua--named for the high chief of his homeland whose swift nature he was said to have inherited before birth and whose genealogy stretched in time across Hawaii--and even now, with his right arm seeded and hidden in the fertile soil of the Kamiloloa uplands and a body that revealed the burden of a labor beyond human capacity, he led the silent, chiseled men through the fallen forest of iliahi with an unquestioned authority and a presence most of the men still believed had been bestowed to him by a god."