(Author: Alan Brennert)

Ever since I was in middle school, I remember seeing someone reading this book and I thought it looked intriguing. The cover depicts a Polynesian-looking woman and hibiscus flowers. This book has been on my “to read” list for decades. I finally got my hands on it and found it at my local library.

Moloka’i is a historical fiction novel that focuses on the leprosy epidemic in the late 1800s in Hawai’i. With the influx of Europeans to the islands during this time, new diseases such as leprosy were introduced and unfortunately thrived because the Hawaiian people had no immunity to it whatsoever.

The story follows little Rachel who is diagnosed with leprosy and shipped off to the island of Moloka’i. During those days, this island was known as the ‘leper colony.’ Children and adults alike were separated from their blood relatives on the bigger islands of Oahu, for example, and sent off to the island so they could not further infect the Hawaiian population. Little was understood of the disease, but isolation from the unaffected population became a common solution.

Brennert does an amazing job developing his characters—from the protagonist, Rachel, who is shipped off to Moloka’i as a child of seven years old to the individuals that eventually become her second ohana on the beautiful island. Rachel spends 50 years of her life on the island, trialing different treatments as they evolve through the early 20th century and navigating relationships with her husband, friends and her family members that eventually lose touch with her.

I highly recommend this book if you are curious about Hawaiian culture and the role of the epidemic during the early 20th century. This story is one of isolation and suffering but it is also one of the joys of youth, building beautiful relationships and most of all, never losing hope even when times are hard.

If interested, you can buy the Book on amazon here.

Total rating: 4.5/5 stars 🙂

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