Behold the Many - by Lois-Ann Yamanaka (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

In 1913, stricken by tuberculosis, young Anah, Aki, and Leah are sent away from their family for treatment at St. Joseph's, an orphanage in Hawai'i's Kalihi Valley. Of the three, two will die there, and only Anah, the eldest, will survive. But the ghosts of the dead sisters will haunt Anah as she prepares to begin married life away from the orphanage. Desperate for the love of their sister, but jealous of her ability to live in the physical world, they are determined to thwart Anah's happiness. As Anah struggles to appease the dead, it becomes apparent that only through one of her own daughters can redemption be attained.

Poignant, lyrical, and utterly compelling, Behold the Many is a stunning novel that glows with longing and life.

Review Quotes

"A mystical, magical, and, at times, macabre world unfolds in Lois-Ann Yamanaka's elegiac tale of three sisters. . . . A chillingly spectral portrait of souls tormented by love and guilt." --Booklist

"A novel with impressive scope and emotional power . . . One's words can heal, one's words can hurt. In Yamanka's vivid novel Behold the Many, her words do both, breaking our hearts and nursing them back to wholeness with the balm of her prose." --The Washington Post

"Tender, poignant, and written in unadorned prose, this is a book to savor." --Library Journal

"In this superb seventh novel from Yamanaka, the ghosts of children curse the living, and a young woman finds salvation in early 20th-century Hawai'i. . . . Beautifully tragic, this should garner Yamanka the wider attention she deserves." --Kirkus Reviews

About the Author

Lois-Ann Yamanaka lives in Honolulu, Hawai'i.