Title: A Song for the Stars
By: Ilima Todd
Published: 2018
Call #: FIC Todd
Maile thought her future was set with plans to marry Ikaika, but when the white men return to her family’s island in Hawai’i, everything gets turned on its head. The first time they arrived from England they were treated like gods, but a surprise return and misunderstand stirs a battle between them. Soon Ikaika is dead and Maile is holding the ship's translator John Harbottle as her prisoner. Their time together starts to build an unlikely friendship and then attraction. When Maile’s home is threatened by another tribe, John’s connections might help them win the war. In exchange for his help, Maile must teach him how to navigate using the stars, but the closer the end of their time together comes, the more Maile realizes she doesn’t want this man who was once her enemy to leave.
Inspired by the author’s fourth great-grandparents, this novel at first feels reminiscent of Disney’s Pocahontas but develops into a rich story filled with culture and a slow burn romance. While told mostly from Maile’s point of view, chapters are interspersed with John’s diary entries which divulge his own insight. This is labeled a proper romance but feels more like a historical fiction that is full of Hawai’ian culture.
Mary-Megan K.
Popular Materials Asst.
Mary-Megan K.
Popular Materials Asst.