A captivating epic, full of colorful detail, vigorous writing, and strong characters.
Two Hawaiian queens challenge their sexist religion and turn to Christianity in Draeger’s sweeping historical novel.
The story unfolds in the 18th and 19th centuries on the Hawaiian islands, whose residents belong to a polytheistic religion that features human sacrifices to the war god Ku and includes kapu taboos that ban women from eating with men and consuming pork, bananas, or coconuts. (Punishments for female banana-eaters could include being fed to sharks.) Manu and Lani are two wives of King Kamehameha the Great. Manu, over six feet tall and fetchingly corpulent, dominates men, visits European ships to learn English and play checkers, loves to surf, and disapproves of human sacrifice and kapu restrictions. She is opposed by Ano, the high priest of Ku, who has a prophetic vision that she will destroy the old gods. Ano’s plots to drown and poison Manu fail, but his plan to lure her into an extramarital affair with his acolyte succeeds spectacularly. (Kamehameha forgives her and she emerges stronger than ever.) Lani’s royal bloodlines make her the most sacred person in Hawaii, but she hates the kapu regulations that prevent her from having any contact with her own children, who might sully her purity. When American missionaries arrive, Lani takes instruction in Christianity while Manu remains skeptical and flummoxes the ministers and their wives by lounging around the mission house stark naked. Enter Betsey Stockton, a missionary and former enslaved person whose warmth and eloquence start winning Manu over to Christ, which drives Ano to scheme on a grander scale.
Based on historical figures and events, Draeger’s narrative paints a rich panorama of Hawaiian culture, with its cliff diving, bird-feather cloaks, hallucinogens, and kapu restrictions. (Lani is considered so exalted that anyone whose shadow touches her must be executed—which really inhibits her socializing.) There’s also an element of Christian apologetics in the novel: The missionaries and converts are kind and earnest, while the Ku priests are not. (“Ano enjoyed binding the dogs in such a way that he could extract their teeth while they still lived, while they still whimpered, and snarled and suffered. He felt it gave the god additional power.”) Draeger makes the ideological tensions roiling Hawaii human and personal, her vivid prose probing the fraught psychological reality of a life governed by dogma. (On their wedding night, “Kameha’s head is never to be higher than Lani’s and he too is not allowed to stand in her presence. Kameha crawls on his stomach toward the mats where Lani waits in dread.”) Manu is a vibrantly drawn force of nature (“She feels the same exhilaration she always feels at such moments, surging forward on the crest of a majestic wave, the cool sea below, the warm sun overhead, and the challenge of conquering a mighty wave. She speaks aloud to the sky. ‘I’m one with the vast sea. This Jesus is said to have walked on water, but could he ride the waves as I do?’”); readers will cheer on her cosmic confidence.
A captivating epic, full of colorful detail, vigorous writing, and strong characters.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2017
ISBN: 9781973236078
Page Count: 510
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Nov. 11, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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