- Alan Brennert's new book "Moloka'i" will be out in mid-October -
"Moving and elegiac" -- First Review for "Molokai" from The Honolulu Star-Bulletin
|
"COMPELLINGLY ORIGINAL...POIGNANT...BRENNERT'S COMPASSION MAKES RACHEL A MEMORABLE CHARACTER, AND HIS SMOOTH STORYTELLING VIVIDLY BRINGS EARLY 20TH CENTURY HAWAII TO LIFE...A TOUCHING, LOVELY ACCOUNT OF A WOMAN’S JOURNEY AS SHE RISES ABOVE THE LIMITATIONS OF A DEVASTATING ILLNESS." —PUBLISHERS WEEKLY (STARRED REVIEW) |
You can pre-order it at Amazon.com, and I would highly recommend that you do so before it sells out.
Need I say I've already done so? :-)
Alan is the author of both the short story and the teleplay of "Her Pilgrim Soul," which appeared on the New Twilight Zone series. I consider it to be the masterpiece of the series as well as the vast majority of TV history.
Mr. Brennert will attend book signings in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Hawaii and Portland, Oregon. The dates and times for the signings are below. Alan looks forward to meeting you!
| CALIFORNIA |
Tuesday, October 7th, 2003 - 7 PM - Dutton's Bookstore, 11975 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles CA 90049 Phone: (310) 476-6263 Thursday, October 9th, 2003 - 7 PM - Vroman's Bookstore, 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena CA 91101 -Phone: (626) 449-5320 Tuesday, October 14th, 2003 - 7 PM - Book Soup, South Coast Plaza, 3333 Bristol Street, Costa Mesa CA 92626 - Phone:(714) 689-2665 Monday, October 20th, 2003 - 7 PM - Book Passage, 51 Tamal Vista Blvd., Corte Madera CA 94925 - Phone: (415) 927-0960 |
| SEATTLE, WASHINGTON | Wednesday, October 22nd, 2003 - 7 PM - Third Place Books, Lake Forest Town Centre, 17171 Bethell Way NE, Lake Forest Park (Seattle) WA 98155 - Phone: (206) 366-3333 |
| PORTLAND, OREGON | Thursday, October 23rd, 2003 - 7:30 PM - 23rd Avenue Books, 1015 NW 23rd Avenue, Portland OR 97210 Phone: (503) 224-5097 |
| HAWAII |
Saturday, November 1st, 2003 - 12 PM - Borders Books & Music, 94-849 Lumiaina Street, Waipahu, Oahu, HI 96797 - Phone: (808) 676-6699 Saturday, November 1st, 2003 - 2 PM - Borders Books & Music, Ward Centre, 1200 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu, Oahu, HI 96813 - Phone: (808) 591-8995 Sunday, November 2nd, 2003 - 1 PM - Borders Books & Music, Maui Marketplace, 270 Dairy Road, Kahului, Maui, HI 96732 - Phone: (808) 877-6160 |
Book Description
Young Rachel Kalama, growing up in idyllic Honolulu in the 1890s, is part of a big, loving Hawaiian family, and dreams of seeing the far-off lands that her father, a merchant seaman, often visits. But at the age of seven, Rachel and her dreams are shattered by the discovery that she has leprosy. Forcibly removed from her family, she is sent to Kalaupapa, the isolated leper colony on the island of Moloka'i.
In her exile she finds a family of friends to replace the family she's lost: a native healer, Haleola, who becomes her adopted "auntie" and makes Rachel aware of the rich culture and mythology of her people; Sister Mary Catherine Voorhies, one of the Franciscan sisters who care for young girls at Kalaupapa; and the beautiful, worldly Leilani, who harbors a surprising secret. At Kalaupapa she also meets the man she will one day marry.
True to historical accounts, Moloka'i is the story of an extraordinary human drama, the full scope and pathos of which has never been told before in fiction. But Rachel's life, though shadowed by disease, isolation, and tragedy, is also one of joy, courage, and dignity. This is a story about life, not death; hope, not despair. It is not about the failings of flesh, but the strength of the human spirit.
|
Advance Praise for MOLOKA'I, by Alan Brennert
"A moving story...a vivid picture of Hawai'i before it became the Touristland it is today." --Larry McMurtry, author of LONESOME DOVE
"MOLOKA'I is a haunting story of tragedy in a Pacific paradise. The book opens a window on a world of dazzling beauty, and ugly disease and fear, and the courage of a young woman in the Hawai'i of a hundred years ago. It is a story of romance and humanity, and struggle with the pain of isolation, in a place faraway in time, yet very close in intimacy and vividness, exact detail, giving us a sense of community and true kinship across time. It is a story of victory." --Robert Morgan, author of GAP CREEK
"Exhaustively researched, MOLOKA'I transported me to a place I never thought I'd want to go--a 19th century Hawaiian leper colony. But Alan Brennert meticulously paints this world, making it resonate with our own, in which disease is still politicized and made a moral issue. Out of the tragedy of the ostracized and the afflicted, he tells a story of triumph and transcendence." --Karen Essex, author of KLEOPATRA and PHARAOH
"A generous portrait of a brave full life, in a beautiful land that's both prison and refuge. Alan Brennert has brought eighty years of little-known history to engrossingly specific life--as inspiring as it is heart-breaking." --Jonathan Strong, author of A CIRCLE AROUND HER |