March 1, 2019
A fictionalized version of the romance between a Hawaiian princess and an English naval officer from Cook's last fateful voyage, one of the first hapa haole (half-white, half-Hawaiian) marriages on record.Maile, daughter of a Hawaiian high chief, looks forward to her marriage to Ikaika, her father's prime navigator, but after a misunderstanding with Capt. James Cook instigates a skirmish which causes the captain's and Ikaika's deaths, Maile becomes the conflicted nurse of English officer John Harbottle. At first considered an enemy, John is able, with help from Maile, to convince her father to let him and his men help them against a threat from a neighboring island. Meanwhile, Maile is assigned to teach John their ancient navigation principles so the Englishmen can get back home since one of the things that caused the skirmish were missing navigation instruments, presumed stolen. John and Maile's time together leads to mutual respect and tender feelings, though John's expected departure shadows their growing love. Todd's (Resist, 2016, etc.) first adult novel is based on her fourth great-grandparents Harbottle and Papapaunauapu (Maile in the novel) and is a delightful amalgamation of fact and fiction as well as a beautifully rendered peek into Hawaiian society before any large Western influence. Through Maile's first-person narrative and John's occasional diary entries, Todd explains ancient Hawaiian customs, beliefs, and wisdom, including actual navigational methods, and creates a clever, multifaceted heroine. A trend in the romance world often has female characters rendered as anachronistically feminist, which isn't quite the case with Maile, though readers may wonder if a woman in a society as rigid as the one described here could have had the influence she does throughout the book. Still, the story is captivating.Astute and luminous, like its heroine.
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Starred review from March 1, 2019
In Todd's stellar historical proper romance we meet Maile, the second daughter of a Hawaiian high chief, as she learns how to navigate by the stars. It is 1779, and the people on the island welcome the arrival of Captain James Cook and his crew, lavishing them with gifts and food fit for a god. Maile is glad when Cook's men eventually leave, as their prolonged stay made them less welcome, but that relief is short-lived. Cook's ships soon return to the bay for repairs and a misunderstanding leads to the death of the captain and the capture of his translator, John Harbottle. Maile is unsure how to treat this stranger, but because John speaks her language, they soon develop mutual trust and begin to share each other's knowledge. He teaches her and her community how to defend themselves against a rival chief armed with guns, and she helps him by teaching him navigational skills. Yet after several months of sharing, talking, and exploring, Maile and John find that they can't envision a future together. Based on Todd's real-life Hawaiian ancestors along with some embellishments involving the actual John Harbottle's connection to the famous Captain Cook, Todd delivers a sweet and entrancing story about the power of communication to bring together people from vastly different worlds.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)