Last Aloha, The - OS

Gaellen Quinn

Softcover, 392 pp.

How did far-off Hawaiʻi become a part of America? Suppressed for nearly 100 years, the story is known to few.

In 1886, following the tragic deaths of her father and fiancé, Laura Jennings, now alone in the world travels to Hawaiʻi to live with missionary relatives. Laura imagines she'll live in a grass hut and minister to savages, but, on arriving in Honolulu, she's surprised to find that, far from being savages, the Hawaiians have developed a charming and prosperous kingdom and Laura's family is among the wealthy elite plotting to overthrow the monarchy.

To avoid her conniving uncle's control, Laura goes to work for the royal family and learns her relatives prejudices against them are unfounded. As Hawaiʻi's last queen, Liliʻuokalani, struggles heroically to save the kingdom, the Missionary Party intensifies its opposition and the queen's efforts reveal to Laura, a power that can restore the spirit of a people caught in a turbulent, changing world, while discovering how her own family's long-hidden secrets can lead the way to reconciliation.