DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA'I
DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA′I is the highly anticipated sequel to Alan Brennert’s acclaimed book club favorite, and national bestseller, MOLOKA′I. It’s a companion tale that tells the story of Ruth, the daughter that Rachel Kalama—quarantined for most of her life at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa—was forced to give up at birth.
The book follows young Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption by a Japanese couple who raise her on a farm in California, her marriage and unjust internment at Manzanar Relocation Camp during World War II—and then, after the war, to the life-altering day when she receives a letter from a woman who says she is Ruth’s birth mother, Rachel.
DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA′I expands upon Ruth and Rachel’s 22-year relationship, only hinted at in MOLOKA′I. It’s a richly emotional tale of two women—different in some ways, similar in others—who never expected to meet, much less come to love, one another. And for Ruth it is a story of discovery, the unfolding of a past she knew nothing about. Told in Brennert’s vivid, evocative prose, conjuring up the beauty and history of both Hawaiian and Japanese cultures, it’s the powerful and poignant tale that readers of MOLOKA′I have been awaiting for fifteen years.
​
"Alan Brennert excels at uncovering the intersection of the big movements of history with the personal stories of ordinary people. He writes with compassion and beauty about both the history of Hawai'i and of the human heart.”
-- Tatjana Soli, author of THE LOTUS EATERS
"Emotional, gripping...a deeply moving novel. In Brennert's skilled hands, Ruth's story is powerful and urgent." -- PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Compellingly told and strikes all the right emotional notes…A historically solid, ultimately hopeful novel about injustice, survival, and unbreakable family bonds." --BOOKLIST
A Reading Group Guide with discussion questions is
available at: Daughter of Moloka'i | Alan Brennert | Macmillan
MOLOKA'I
This richly imagined novel, set in Hawai'i more than a century ago, is an extraordinary epic of a little-known time and place---and a deeply moving testament to the resiliency of the human spirit.
"A dazzling historical saga"
--The Washington Post
"A master of historical fiction.."
--San Francisco Chronicle
HONOLULU
Honolulu is the rich, unforgettable story of a young “picture bride” who journeys to Hawai'i in 1914 in search of a better life.
Chosen on the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post
PALISADES PARK
"Bestseller Alan Brennert's spellbinding story about a family of dreamers and their lives within the legendary Palisades Amusement Park.
"A literate, thoughtful saga...a pleasure to read"
--Kirkus Reviews
GRAPHIC NOVELS
TALES OF THE BATMAN
Alan Brennert was never a prolific contributor to the DC Universe. But to fans familiar with those iconic tales, Brennert ranks among the all-time greatest Batman authors. Largely taking place outside of the main DC continuity, in the realms of Elseworlds and Earth-Two, Brennert’s comics are some of the most-thought provoking and insightful in the Dark Knight’s history.
"Take it from someone who has read every single Batman story ever told: there is no finer collection of them like this one."
--Mark Waid (KINGDOM COME)
"Alan Brennert is a magician, one who showed us all a new way to think about superhero stories,turning the adventure on its ear and bringing out the humanity." --Kurt Busiek (ASTRO CITY)
IN THE PRESS
COMING FROM ST. MARTIN’S PRESS FEBRUARY 19, 2019
​
DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA′I is the highly anticipated sequel to Alan Brennert’s acclaimed book club favorite, and national bestseller, MOLOKA′I. It’s a companion tale that tells the story of Ruth, the daughter that Rachel Kalama—quarantined for most of her life at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa—was forced to give up at birth.
The book follows young Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption by a Japanese couple who raise her on a farm in California, her marriage and unjust internment at Manzanar Relocation Camp during World War II—and then, after the war, to the life-altering day when she receives a letter from a woman who says she is Ruth’s birth mother, Rachel.
DAUGHTER OF MOLOKA′I expands upon Ruth and Rachel’s 22-year relationship, only hinted at in MOLOKA′I. It’s a richly emotional tale of two women—different in some ways, similar in others—who never expected to meet, much less come to love, one another. And for Ruth it is a story of discovery, the unfolding of a past she knew nothing about. Told in Brennert’s vivid, evocative prose, conjuring up the beauty and history of both Hawaiian and Japanese cultures, it’s the powerful and poignant tale that readers of MOLOKA′I have been awaiting for fifteen years.
BIO
PHOTO: DAVID WELLS
Alan Brennert was born in Englewood, New Jersey, and grew up in the towns of Cliffside Park, Palisades Park, Edgewater, and Haledon. Since 1973 he has lived in Southern California, where he received a B.A. in English from California State University at Long Beach and did graduate work in screenwriting at UCLA Film School.
In addition to novels, he has written short stories, teleplays, screenplays, and the libretto of a stage musical, WEIRD ROMANCE, with music by Alan Menken and lyrics by David Spencer. Produced in 1992 by the WPA Theatre in New York, it has since been licensed for more than a hundred regional, high school, and college productions. A cast album was released by Columbia Records in 1993.
His work as a writer-producer for the television series L.A. Law earned him an Emmy Award in 1991. He has been nominated for an Emmy on two other occasions, once for a Golden Globe Award, and (three times) for the Writers Guild of America Award for Outstanding Teleplay of the Year. He received a People's Choice Award for L.A. Law, and his short story "Ma Qui" was honored with a Nebula Award in 1992.
He has developed screenplays for major studios, as well as miniseries, pilots, and television movies. "But in television and film," he says, "sometimes your best work is never seen." In 1999 he spent six months writing a four-hour miniseries for NBC and Kevin Costner's Tig Productions, based on David Marion Wilkinson's epic novel NOT BETWEEN BROTHERS, about the founding of Texas. When the network opted not to produce it, Alan decided he needed to write something that people would get to see, and the result was MOLOKA′I.
MOLOKA′I, about the forced segregation of leprosy patients to the settlement of Kalaupapa in Hawai'i, won praise from The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and Publishers Weekly, and became a national bestseller in paperback as well as a favorite selection of reading groups across the country. It was also a 2012 One Book, One San Diego selection. His next novel, HONOLULU, was also well received—the San Francisco Chronicle called it “a moving, multilayered epic by a master of historical fiction,” The Washington Post named it one of the Best Books of 2009, and won First Prize in Elle Magazine’s Literary Grand Prix for Fiction. Of his novel PALISADES PARK, People Magazine said: “Brennert writes his valentine to the New Jersey playground of his youth in Ragtime-style, mixing fact and fiction. It’s a memorable ride.”
CONTACT
Alan is happy to talk with book clubs by phone or Skype. To contact, email him at alan@alanbrennert.com
Sign Up for News, Events & Much More!
Follow Alan
acebook