Description:
Welcome to Oceania, where verdant islands are connected by endless blue seas and the presence of the ancestors is as palpable as the passing rains. Realms of Islands tells the story of several generations of women from a singular island family, both blessed and burdened by ancestral legacies of extraordinary powers and the inheritance of a house imbued with spectral channels.
The story begins as two matriarchs gifted with spiritual prowess set off on journeys with ramifications that ripple through space and time. Felesina ventures into the Sāmoan underworld for a sacred tree that will ensure the posterity of her family while Hannah Greenwood passes through a door that takes her away from the English countryside into a never-ending voyage across Oceania. Their choices and the subsequent melding of their genealogical lines create women of remarkable character, with their descendants inheriting spirit magic, trials, and a legacy of sacrifice. As generations shift, so too do the decades. Some descendants navigate the chaotic nineteenth-century Pacific, witnessing the violence of overthrown native governments and the lawlessness of beach colonies, while others endure the changing tides of the twentieth century. Whether they deny their heritage or embrace their gifts, each family member must grapple with finding balance between the realms of the spirit and the earth along with their two very different--and often conflicting--cultural backgrounds. This epic tale of love and sacrifice from award-winning writer Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl presents the enduring bonds tying one family to their cherished homelands and to each other. Lyrical, expansive, and layered, Realms of Islands builds new bridges of understanding to our ancestral heritage and the people from the vast archipelagos of the Pacific.Brief description: Victoria Nalani Kneubuhl is a Hawaiʻi-based playwright and author of Hawaiian, Sāmoan, and Caucasian ancestry.
Review Quotes: Victoria Kneubuhl's sweeping new novel Realms of Islands gathers the threads of disparate histories--Boston missionaries, Tahitian royalty, Samoan chiefs--and weaves them together in a groundbreaking family saga spanning more than 150 years. Through dreams, hauntings, letters, and song, Kneubuhl's unforgettable characters learn about the timeless power of ancestral love, belonging, and forgiveness. A must-read for Oceanic literature and a story I loved!--Kristiana Kahakauwila, author of This Is Paradise: Stories and associate professor of English, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa.