Such a wonderful book to follow the first book. It is not necessary to read the first book to follow the second. The first book is about Rachel, a Hawaiian girl sent to the island due to leprosy. Wonderful book with a rich history I knew very little about. Rachel marries and they have a daughter. They name her Ruth. In order to save her from a life of leprosy, they give Ruth to an orphanage where she is adopted and raised by a Japanese family. This is Ruth’s story. Ruth has a strong personality and is well developed. This book gives a good history of being Japanese American in a very difficult time. Difficult to read at times, but historically accurate. Wonderful ending.
https://amusingreviews.blogspot.com/2018/10/review-daughter-of-molokai.html

As a follow up to Moloka'i we learn more about the life of Ruth after being adopted. We learn about life in the internment camps during WWII. We get to see a beautiful love story develop between Ruth and Rachel as they get to bond after years apart. Such gracious characters and a beautiful story.

Moloka'i is one of my all-time favorite books so I had high expectations for this companion novel. Daughter of Moloka'i definitely did not disappoint. The book tells of Ruth's life, starting when she was a baby at an orphanage in Hawaii through her adulthood when she is reunited with the mother who was forced to give her up. Ruth's life is full of ups and downs as she finds the family she has been hoping for, is sent with her family to live at an internment camp, and later learns the truth about her birth and parents. This book gives insight into the life of Japanese-Americans during WWII, while showing the power of resilience and family. It's captivating and heartfelt.

I was so excited to see that the story of Moloka'i was not over yet. I read the first book ages ago and recommended it to everyone. Daughter of Moloka'i did not disappoint. Ruth came to life for me from a small child who only truly felt love from animals, to the mother who would shield her children from the pain she was feeling. I don't want to get into too many details and give the story away, but it was both heartbreaking and uplifting.

4.5 stars
Daughter Of Moloka’i is a well-written, poignant, and bittersweet novel. The story begins in 1916, in Moloka’i Hawaii, a place designated for people with Hansen’s disease (Leprosy). When Ruth was born to parents suffering from the disease, she was taken from them, within an hour of her birth.

Ruth was brought up in an orphanage, run by nuns, until she was adopted by Japanese immigrants, living in Honolulu. Ruth loved her parents but often wondered why her biological parents had given her away.

Ruth was content with her life in Hawaii until her Uncle convinced her father to move to California. The opportunity he was offered, was supposed to be, a wonderful one. It wasn’t. It was a scam. But after her father uprooted his family and moved to America, it was too late to turn back. Being taken advantage of was not the worse thing, that happened to Ruth’s family in California. WWII was about to break out, and with it, Japan’s bombing of Pearl Harbor. The President’s reaction to the Japanese invasion was to gather, isolate, and relocate all Japanese immigrants and their family members, to less than ideal internment camps.

Everyone who was sent to these camps had given up their homes, farms, businesses, and belongings. Many of these people with Japanese parents and grandparents were US citizens, but sent to camps, just the same.

Daughter Of Moloka’i is a compelling and engaging book, well-crafted and researched.

Thank you, St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley, for my advanced review copy.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of Daughter of Moloka'i (from NetGalley). All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This book was--in the best way--more than I bargained for! Seemingly neverending, I followed Ruth from nearly birth through her entire adult life. Though I would have thought the sheer idea of this would be tedious and uninteresting, Alan Brennert eliminated the possibility of boredom. Much of Ruth's life, although tragic, played instrumental parts in it becoming a happy one overall, I believe.

One part of the novel nearly shredded my heart, however. Although I refuse to supply spoilers, I will just say that, as a mother myself, the suitcase revelation launched me into about an hour of sobbing. Also as a mother, I would have liked a closer look at the time period of Ruth's pregnancies and arrival of her children. (I do understand that in a novel this long, cuts had to be made somewhere.)

I have never read anything quite like this novel--which skipped around from point of view to point of view like no book I have read before it. I spent a week and a half or more listening to (Kindle app) Daughter of Moloka'i on my work commute (45 minutes each way) and I must say that every minute of it was enjoyable. I also always appreciate the bits of history that I absorb and the spark of interest in doing some research myself after reading something this powerful and well done. The amount of research to produce this lovely narrative must have been a massive undertaking!!!! (I am aware that this was a sequel, so now I will have to purchase the first novel to see what I may have missed out on.)

Thank you to NetGalley and Alan Brennert for the ARC.

Solid five stars! Let me say that I have not read Molokai, the previous book written by this author. After reading so many reviews, I was concerned that I may miss some of the relevance of the storyline starting on book 2 but that was not the case, This book is a stand alone book.

I found this story extraordinary. I am a huge historical fiction fan and this book hit all the highs for me, great detail, realistic, moving, controversial and enlightening, educational.

The characters were so real, i felt I was right there with them on their farm, in the interment camps, in Sacramento, Hawaii, San Jose. With fantastic details and so much information to absorb about the Japanese and Hawaiian cultures I was completely captivated. These were very difficult times for Japanese Americans in this country and the author also manage to pepper in the alienation of the leopracy epidemic. Outstanding!

I am fairly stingy with five star reviews, but I would give this book a six if I could. Many thanks to Netgalley, the author and St. Martins Press for an advanced readers copy of this book.

I felt that Allen Brennert’s book “Daughter of Moloka’i was really two books in one. Having read his first book Moloka’i several years ago I eagerly looked forward to the sequel. However this book was in no way the sequel. In reading this I felt it was more about the treatment of the Japanese in World War II than it was about Moloka’i and his original idea. He encapsulated the story in a very arbitrary way with little resemblance to his original book. I was quite disappointed with his treatment of the subject matter and in the handling of the idea for this book. If I had approached this book with a different mindset I’m certain I would’ve enjoyed it more and not been so disappointed. It’s perhaps unfair to judge this book on my pre-determination of what I thought it would be.

Many thanks to the publisher for the advanced copy. Here is my honest review.

Pros:
It was a sweet story.
The parts about their internment were interesting.

Cons:
There was no depth to the story or the characters.
I love historical fiction but was bored for the whole thing.
It felt very amateurish at times.

I give this book a 3.5. It starts really strong but loses its footing mid0-book.
Ruth is given to a convent to help foster an adoption. But Ruth is like no other girl: she is hapa, half Japanese and half Hawaiian. Her parents live in Moloka'i and have been forced to give up their daughter because they have leprosy. Ruth is luckily to grow up in a stable Japanese home, but when Pearl Harbor is bombed, Ruth must go to the internment camps and give up every part of her life she has fought for.
I vaguely understood this was a sequel to another, much older novel. That being said, the book sets itself up with a great story about Ruth. This intoxicating story gives a look into what it was like in eg camps and was emotionally moving. But suddenly the book takes a sharp turn, and it becomes about the original novel and this book is used to finish that character's tale putting Ruth on the backburner. Since I had not read the original, I was not invested in Rachel and I wanted to see more in-depth what Ruth's family would do after the internment camps.
The book is lush and beautiful. I loved reading the descriptions if Hawaii and learning more about that and Japanese culture. Unfortunately, we lost Ruth along the way.

First of all, I must say I did not read the first book in this series, 'Moloka'i. However, after reading Alan Brennerts' second installment in this series 'Daughter of Moloka'i', I will be going back to read, learn and digest it posthaste!

'Daughter of Moloka'i' for me was as much of a "coming home" experience as is was a "revelation of history". As an Asian-American, a Filipino-Caucasian, that was raised in Japan, and also lived in Hawaii, before making the mainland my home, the incredible story of Ruth's life was both wondrous and heartbreaking. In our present school systems we learn much about American history, mainly the colonizing of the United States, and we spend a short stint in the Slavery histories of the United States. However, thinking back, I can't remember anytime when I was taught about Japanese Interment camps. The blatant prejudice and discrimination, and forced encampment that took place right here in our United States. I doesn't surprise me that we didn't either. Alan Brennert does a wonderful job of telling the story of the many Japanese-American people that were affected by this injustice, when many of those by way of culture is to carry on without complaint, to 'gaman'. Or those silenced by shame or selflessness, because their stories of internment, while no less unfair, paled in comparison to the injustices of the Holocust, occurring ar the same time.

If Asian-American history sparks your interest, I highly recommend you read this gem and immerse yourself into Ruth's story of struggle, of love, and most importantly of Ohana and Aloha.


Thank you Alan Brennert for writing Ruth's story, and thank you for the references to explore in your author's notes, I will be exploring this journey more. Also, thank you Netgallery for the opportunity to read and review 'Daughter of Molok'ai' via the free advanced readers copy I recieved in exchange for my honest review. I look forward to future opportunities as well.

I haven’t read the first book in this series, but I think this book stands alone. It’s beautifully written and so thorough. I wasn’t particularly interested in the time period, even though I generally love historical fiction. It’s definitely worth a read!

When I started Daughter of Moloka'i, I did not realize it was book 2. However, after reading the book, I think it works as a stand-alone book. I may go back and read the first book because of all the rave reviews and the Rachel was and interesting character in this book. The book is very well written and the story is compelling. You feel like you know the people in the book. The book makes you smile, love, hate, and cry. I would recommend reading this book.

I did receive an advanced readers copy for an honest review from Netgalley.

What a great sequel to Moloka’i! I was on an emotional roller coaster reading this book. I have daughters and I thought of so many things regarding them and our relationships. The characters in this book are well defined and descriptions flow beautifully. I highly recommend this book. Thanks to St. Martin’s Press and NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A great story! It’s a wonderful history of the time period in Hawaii and California. The characters are so real- I was totally engrossed in their stories.
I had never read the first book and had no idea it was a series of 2 books. I will read the first one!
I highly recommend it!

This book is a sequel to “Moloka’i” -- I read it in 2014 (loved it) and I was a bit worried that I’d forgotten too much from that book. Alan Brennert does an excellent job reminding viewers of key elements from that book in just the right places. The author is a fantastic storyteller and has created memorable characters. I do recommend reading these books in order though for the most magical reading experience.

The first half of this book is Ruth’s story, she’s the daughter of Rachel and Kenji from book #1. Raised by nuns, she is eventually adopted by a Japanese family and moves to California. I must admit that I didn’t enjoy the California setting as much as the parts of the book set in Hawaii. There is a great deal of historical material here in the first half about the internment camps, especially the California ones, during WWII. I found this part uncomfortable to read, especially considering our current political climate. The Japanese people were treated abominably in these camps.

I love that Rachel finds her way back into this story and the reader is taken back to Hawaii. There are so many fantastic emotional elements with mothers and daughter in this book and I was brought to tears in a few places. This sweeping saga covers several generations and is well worth a read. I highly recommend it as well as the first book if you haven’t read that one. Now I’m curious if there will be a book #3 in this series.

*I will post my review on Goodreads closer to the publication date

This is a sequel to “Moloka’i”, to be published early in 2019. This one follows Ruth, the daughter of Rachel and Kenji, both who have Hansen’s disease (leprosy) and were sent to Molokai to live their lives. Rachel is Hawaiian and Kenji, Japanese. Ruth was born in the early 20th century, and was taken away from her parents. At 5 years old, she is adopted by a Japanese couple, so Ruth is raised learning her Japanese culture. They move from Hawaii to California when Ruth is still young to help her uncle on his farm. Things do not go well for Ruth and her family, along with over 100,000 Japanese Americans when Pearl Harbour is bombed in 1941.

I really liked this, though I have to admit, I wasn’t as interested later on in the book when Rachel came back into the picture. Maybe that would have been different if it hadn’t been so long since I’d read the first book, I’m not sure. It was interesting learning about the Japanese culture, as Ruth learned, and later there was some about the Hawaiian culture, as well. The most interesting parts of the book to me was when Ruth and her family were in the internment camps. That wasn’t completely new to me, but it was the best part of the book for me. I do feel like this one could stand-alone without having read the first book.

This is Alan Brennert's sequel to his 2004 book Moloka'i. I've not read Moloka'i and it's not necessary to do so in order to read and enjoy Daughter of Moloka'i, but I'll be reading Moloka'i soon, as soon as my heart settles and absorbs what I read in this book. I knew some things about the internment of the Japanese or anyone with Japanese blood, on United States soil, during World War II, but I really didn't know what it was like or see the faces or know the names. This book gives me greater insight into how very wrong and horrible this was for this to happen to law abiding, loyal, hardworking, Americans and future Americans who lost so much, often everything, during this time of unjust imprisonment.

But this book is about much more than that particular time. It's about the life of Ruth, the daughter of Hawaiian Rachael and her Japanese husband, both quarantined at the isolated leprosy settlement of Kalaupapa, who had to give up Ruth, within hours of her birth. Ruth didn't know why she had been given up until decades later, when she received letter from her birth mother, hoping to meet her or at least to hear Ruth's voice. The book might seem slow to others, the action is not that of a thriller despite so much going on in the world of Ruth, but what she and her family and friends endured was lived one day at a time and I could feel the long days of sadness, worry, and amazement that their country would do such things to them.

At the age of five, Ruth was able to leave the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu when she was adopted by a Japanese couple with three young sons. We learn so much about both the Japanese and later, Hawaiian cultures, and the love of these people for nature, history, family, land, honor, life and death. Ruth has a very strong connection to animals and the book starts with this connection, carries it throughout the book, and then ends with this connection. I couldn't write this review until a day after I finished this book because I couldn't stop crying when I would try to even think of how to write down the words I wanted to say, and it was that animal connection that brought out the tears. Know that his book shows the love of life, of animals, and nature with it's treatment of all those things.

The love between family members and their friends, the strong sense of honor that led to very hard decisions, the pride of these people that allowed them to live full lives even during internment, and the humbleness of these people, who upon release from the camps, realizing the horrors inflicted on Jewish people in the concentration camps, knowing they could have endured so much worse than they did, all these things are full of love, forgiveness, sadness and hope. I know that sentence is too long but this book is so full of emotions for me, I can't put all my thoughts and feeling for it, on this page.

The real heart of this story though, is the love Ruth has for her family despite sometimes chafing under the traditions and also not feeling a compete part of her family because she was only half Japanese. Later, when she meets her birth mother, she meets her other half and the two parts come together. The love both mothers have for her and the respect they have for the other mother, is what shows that this world always has hope when we can treat each other with the love that these women show to others, not exactly like them.

This is my honest review and I thank St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for this Advance Read Copy.

This book was given to me by NetGalley as an ARC in return for a fair review. Unfortunately, I have not yet read the first book, 'Moloka'i', in this series, but It is definitely on my list. This second book was delightful as it told the story of Ruth, a child born to lepers in the Hawaii's leper colony. (The first book is about Ruth's parents and their lives in the leper colony during the late 1800s and early 1900s.) She is taken from her parents as a tot and put in an orphanage once it has been determined that she does not have leprosy. Brennert does a great job describing her early years that were plagued with disappointment after disappointment until a loving Japanese family adopts her. Their happy life in Honolulu ends when the family moves to California. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, they are put in prison camps. The irony being if they had stayed in Hawaii, they could have kept their home and business. Only Japanese families on the west coast were relocated. Ruth's story continues to unfold as she and her family are released from the camp only to find that everything they once had was gone. They must all rebuild their lives, find work and buy new homes plus deal with the prejudice wrought by their ancestry. Many of them had never even set foot in Japan, but found themselves targeted as the enemy. Ruth and her family work hard, rebuild, and continue on wit their lives. She even finds a way to blend her adoptive family and her biological mother. Brennert is a fine writer who pens a wonderful story that I thoroughly enjoyed. This was a very good book and I was privileged to read an advanced copy.

Ruth's story is simply incredible. With her I experienced hope and despair, abandonment and adoption, prosperity and poverty, and the full gamut of human emotions. Daughter of Moloka'i will haunt my thoughts for a long time. This is a book I want to share and discuss with others.