The Pohaku - by Jasmin Iolani Hakes (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

From the award-winning author of Hula, a dazzling saga that moves from Hawaii to California and back, about the generations of women tasked with protecting the history and place that made them.

A young woman lies in a hospital bed in a coma, watched over by her estranged grandmother. Some say she jumped off the cliff; others say she was swept away by a wave. But her tutu at her bedside suspects something else is wrong, that the reason for the hardship and heartbreak in their family history is tied to a story that she's never told--one about a powerful stone, the pohaku, that her family was tasked with protecting generations ago. In fits and starts, the grandmother begins . . .

We travel back in time to the eighteenth century, when the explorer James Cook becomes the first European to visit the Hawaiian Islands. Cook arrives in pursuit of an ancient prophecy, a key that would unlock the mysteries of the world, but he is killed before he can learn about the mysterious stone--a stone born alongside future Hawaiian royalty, the key to something even more powerful than Cook could have imagined.

So begins a thrilling family saga of the women charged with protecting the pohaku, as it is taken from Hawai'i to California and possibly beyond, bringing fortune to the well-intentioned and misfortune to the bad. But with each successive generation, the fractures caused by its displacement widen until it becomes clear that the pohaku's story must survive if there is to be any hope at all of the family's--and a nation's--reconciliation with their home, with nature, and with each other.

Reminiscent of Yaa Gyasi's Homegoing, Min Jin Lee's Pachinko, and Tommy Orange's There, There, The Pohaku is an immersive and bold novel about the history, perseverance, and resilience of the Hawaiian people.

Review Quotes

"A novel of exquisite beauty and grace, The Pohaku follows a grandmother and granddaughter, and generations of ancestors, tasked with safekeeping the divine stone that unites a kingdom and carries the mysteries of the world. Their tale captures how secrets can destroy people or bring them together as these powerful, vibrant women battle the outside forces threatening their culture and the interpersonal dramas threatening their bonds. Hakes imparts Hawaiian history with the elegance of a poet all while asking the age-old question: What do we owe our families, our communities, and ourselves? An absolute stunner." -- Laura Wardell, author of Sweet, Soft, Plenty Rhythm