This one has been on my wish list for a really long time now. Not sure why I've never gotten around to buying/reading it. I'm in Hawaii right now, and I brought two books with me on the trip ... and between the long flights and days lazing on the beach, I've already finished both of them! So, during a quick stop at the Barnes & Noble at the Ala Moana shopping mall in Waikiki, this book caught my eye. It seemed fitting to buy it while I'm in Hawaii ... so it will be my beach read starting tomorrow.

Wow, talk about an interesting book. A while back, I read "The Island" by Victoria Hislop - a novel about people with Leprosy (now known as Hansen's disease) who had been exhiled to a tiny island off of the Greek island of Crete in the early-to-mid 1900's. That fascinated me, and I shortly thereafter stumbled upon this book. I can't believe I waited so long to read this.

This book is basically the tale of Rachel, sprawling through her life from 1890 through 1970 - in a time when leprosy was feared, mostly because not enough was known about it. Rachel is exhiled to the Kalaupapa leper settlement on the Hawaiian island of Molokai when she is just a young girl, and the story follows her life, what she endures, how she lives, and what she learns across many decades. There are multiple people who come and go from her life, and the author does a great job developing all of the characters and weaving them into the story in a way that kept me reading raptly.

I read books to "escape", but also to learn. This book was both - it was enough of a fictional story to be an entertaining read, but I also learned a lot about Hansen's disease, the island of Molokai, and the settlement at Kalaupapa - which are all very much factual.

Will hang onto this book until I figure out what to do with it.

My sister, Moody-Blue, showed an interest in this book. Will take it to her when I see her next weekend :)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Handing this off to my sister, Moody-Blue, when I see her this weekend.

Sounds great -- thanks!

Loaned to M and she said she was suprised that she liked it. Really? Seems there's so much here that would appeal to someone who used to live there! I'm happy to have it back -- want to read soon.

I think Historical Fiction is high on my list of favorite genres. It's so nice to read a story and feel like you learned something about a different time and place at the same time. In this case, it's Hawai'ian history and traditions, the leprosy epidemic, World War II and Japanese internment camps that are given a human face. This author has a real gift for story-telling and I'm looking forward to reading more from him.

Received back from my Mom. Listing as AVL until I decide what to do with this.

Loaning to Val ...

Received from my daughter. Excited to read!