Book Review: Moloka'i by Alan Brennert

Title: Moloka'i
By: Alan Brennert
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 405
Release Date: October 4th, 2004
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Rating: ★★★★☆

Summary from Goodreads:

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.

Rachel Kalama, a spirited seven-year-old Hawaiian girl, dreams of visiting far-off lands like her father, a merchant seaman. Then one day a rose-colored mark appears on her skin, and those dreams are stolen from her. Taken from her home and family, Rachel is sent to Kalaupapa, the quarantined leprosy settlement on the island of Moloka'i. Here her life is supposed to end---but instead she discovers it is only just beginning.




Review:

It is hard to know that such suffering happened in our past. Before we knew what caused leprosy, we would shun and send the infected to leper camps. They were considered sinners and unclean. When a young girl is sent to one of these camps where her family becomes distant and abandoning, how can she survive? This story was really touching, but truly sad. It wasn't until the end of the story, that I felt satisfied and whole. A great ending to the long suffering.
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