Bill Fernandez traces the reasons for writing his new novel, Splintered Paddle: A Novel of King Kamehameha the Great, back to his youth. Born in Kapaa, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai, Fernandez attended Kamehameha Schools, which have a rich history of their own. Founded in 1887 by an endowment in the will of Hawaiian Princess Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the last descendant of King Kamehameha, the schools aim “to improve the capability and well-being of Hawaiians through education.”

Fernandez, who is half native Hawaiian, appreciates the history behind his own schooling. “Writing about [Kamehameha’s] time just fit into my upbringing,” he says. In fact, the title of his novel comes from a law enacted by King Kamehameha called Kānāwai Māmalahoe, or Law of the Splintered Paddle: “Let every elderly person, woman, and child lie by the roadside in safety.” Later adopted by the Hawaii state constitution, the law protects the rights of civilians in times of conflict and is often cited as a model for human rights legislation.

Fernandez left Hawaii to attend college and law school at Stanford University. He lived in the Bay Area for years, but when he retired, he and his wife decided to return to Kauai, where he started writing. Though he’s written in a range of genres, he’s always stayed close to the subject most important to him: his home. “I’ve written 12 books now, trying to tell the Hawaiian story,” he says.

Though Splintered Paddle is steeped in historical context, the novel’s not a dry read. In fact, it’s an action-packed period piece. In its review, Kirkus praises the “wealth of historical and cultural minutiae” but singles out another success of the book: “The numerous battle scenes are graphic, bloody, and riveting.”

“In order to keep the novel interesting, I’ve got to make it thrilling,” says Fernandez. A history buff, he’d like to include as much period detail as possible. But he doesn’t forget his responsibilities as a novelist. “That’s why you have battles and conflicts that were occurring at the time,” he says. “You’ve got to have tension.” 

“I grew up in the plantation era in Hawaii,” says Fernandez. “Hawaiians were second-, third-class citizens. I thought, well, I want to talk about the Hawaiian story. Kamehameha is the beginning for me.” While Fernandez acknowledges the significance of Kamehameha’s positive accomplishments, he has no illusions about the ruler’s complicated legacy. “You get this idea that he was a mystical being, a golden man who brought all the islands under his control. But was he a benevolent fellow? Or did he have a Napoleonic complex and a need to conquer?” 

Such questions pushed Fernandez to consider Kamehameha—who ruled from 1782 to 1819—as a man of faults, contradictions, and complexity. In other words, a rounded character. “The motivating force in writing about any character,” says Fernandez, “is to find the flaws as well as the good points.” He found plenty of evidence pointing to both realities: The king was revered; the king was brutal. Though Kamehameha was a world historical figure, Fernandez knew his book boiled down to a simple and very human question: “How do you overcome your flaws?”

Kamehameha is a central figure in the book, but he’s far from the main character. Fernandez makes a savvy move, common in good historical fiction, to make an unknown his protagonist. That character is Kalani, a young man sent to a military academy to try out for Kamehameha’s army. Kalani has a clear goal: to become a “black land chief”—a status granted by the king when he confers property. In other words, Kalani is “a man trying to make his way in life,” says Fernandez. 

Though Kalani strives to rise in the rigidly hierarchical class system of Kamehameha’s kingdom, he’s also a critic of this social structure. His father was captured in battle and sacrificed to Ku, the war god. Some of his best military training comes from two slaves, a father and son. After Kalani catches a spear, impressing the instructor, his friend Moki praises his prowess. But when Kalani credits his enslaved comrades, Moki becomes uneasy:

My friend, you should know that it may be death for you to associate with them. Besides, they have no property. They and everything they have belongs to the high chief, who is their master. At any time, they can be offered to Ku. What is to be gained by dealing with these slaves, other than your own death? 

Kalani gives an impassioned reply: 

I am being taught by them to be a warrior. You saw my skill on the practice field. It is due to their teaching. Without their help, I would have failed the tests, been disgraced and banished from the school. They are kind and generous people.

Fernandez wanted Kalani to be both fiercely ambitious and tenderly humane. “I wanted a character who could prove by his valor that he can rise up,” says Fernandez. “A character who, because of his humble beginnings, can feel for his fellow man. And I wanted to show that you could have some form of liberty in this very class-oriented society.” 

His next book, Conquest, will be a sequel to Splintered Paddle. In the follow-up, Fernandez says Kamehameha continues unifying the Hawaiian Islands while Kalani keeps rising in status. In one sense, writing the new book was easier because Fernandez had far more written resources to work from. Splintered Paddle is set in a time when Hawaiians had no written record, just an oral tradition. Though Fernandez drew from the journals of Capt. Cook and Capt. Vancouver, he felt the lack of written, native accounts—what he calls “a paucity of information from the people at that time.” 

“I can follow history so much better in this next book. There’s a lot of material because there’s a lot of writing now,” says Fernandez, referring both to Western accounts and to the rise of written Hawaiian in the 1820s. “You can get a better feel for what’s happening back then rather than relying on oral traditions.” Fernandez is excited to share what he can about Hawaii’s past. He knows that the state’s reputation is as a vacation hub rather than a land of historical import. 

“My classmate Don Ho”—the famous Hawaii-born singer—“used to say that people come to Hawaii and learn nothing about us,” says Fernandez. One book at a time, he’s trying to remedy that—with vivid, historically accurate books to entertain and educate his readers.

Walker Rutter-Bowman is a writer and teacher living in Washington, D.C.