Description: This novel in verse is many things. First, it puts language to trials only a great writer is capable of sustaining. Secondly, it reveals a history of Hawaiian islands in the light of the savage debasement of its populace by the greedy encroachment of European and American entrepreneurs. Thirdly, it tells the true story of a Hawaiian family who successfully defied them to retain its dignity. Pi'ilani is the heroine, a steadfast figure who defends her husband and child even after their deaths. In the 19th century the high incidence of leprosy panicked the American authorities to the degree that they exiled to a remote island all those who showed its signs, tearing them from their families. On the island of Kauai, Pi'ilani and her husband and child detect these signs and decide to go into hiding to avoid being separated. Since they know the terrain of their Island of Kauai so well, they succeed. But the story of their success is an epic of fortitude against even American gunboats which has parallel as a thrilling adventure.

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