I recently read the novel Moloka'i, the story of Rachel Kalama's life from the time she arrived at the leprosy settlement Kalaupapa at age seven until her tentative release at the age of sixty-one.
If you read my glowing review of that book, you'll know I was excited to begin the sequel, Daughter of Moloka'i, that follows the life of Rachel's daughter, Ruth, who was placed for adoption and we only briefly met at the end of Moloka'i.

With Rachel's story still so fresh in my mind, I devoured Daughter of Moloka'i and shed a lot of tears.
Sister Catherine travels from Moloka'i to Honolulu with Rachel and Kenji's one-year-old daughter Ruth, where Ruth is placed in the care of nuns at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls with the hope she will be adopted.

Ruth is a precocious child who has a stubborn streak and a love of animals. When she is five, a Japanese couple visit Kapi'olani and meet Ruth, who they immediately fall in love with and choose to adopt.
Ruth, who has desperately longed for a family, suddenly becomes the little sister to three older brothers and is fascinated by the Japanese language and culture she is learning. She knows little about herself other than that she is "hapa"; half Hawaiian and half Japanese.

The family soon moves from Honolulu to a farm in Florin, California.  Ruth's father has been led to believe he will become part owner of his older brother's successful farm and he will once again work the land.  It isn't until the family arrives that the brother confides he is buried in debt and cannot even afford to hire laborers to pick the crops.
Ruth's father doesn't tell his family of the dire financial situation but tries his best to turn the situation around for everyone involved.
Ruth grows up on the farm, taking care of animals and dreaming of a future as a veterinarian.  She falls in love and marries a man named Frank and they have two children, Peggy and Donald.  Playing out in the background for the entirety of Ruth's childhood is the mounting fear white Americans have toward Japanese people. It begins with separating the white and Japanese children in schools and then turns into national hysteria after the Imperial Japanese Navy bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Roosevelt authorizes the internment of around 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry (over half are United States citizens) in military areas around the West Coast.

Ruth's entire family is sent to Manzanar Relocation Camp where they spend years in fear and deplorable living conditions.  
Her father struggles with his allegiance to a country that will not allow him to become a legal citizen or own a piece of land to farm, yet wants him to denounce the country of his birth.
Ruth watches in shock and disgust as everything her family worked hard for and earned fairly is taken away from them.
Three years go by inside the camp - three years of anger, riots, and fear.  Ruth's aunt and uncle choose to return to Japan to be with their son who was deported early in the war. Her father is sent to a "higher security risk" camp because of his answers to questions about the war and his views, where he dies of pneumonia.

When the family is finally released from Manzanar, they are very different people and they return to Florin, a town they barely recognize.  There is too much hurt and anger to stay.
Ruth and Frank move with their children and Ruth's mother to San Jose to begin a fresh chapter in their lives.  

An unexpected letter arrives in the mail one morning, all the way from Honolulu.  Inside is a letter that will change Ruth's life forever.  
Her birth mother, Rachel Utagawa, has reached out in hopes of speaking with her long lost daughter.
Ruth's entire story is heartbreaking but this is where I finally lost it!  While reading about Ruth's life, I couldn't help but think about how Rachel would've felt knowing the things her daughter had gone through.  Reaching the point where Ruth and Rachel's stories finally intertwine and getting Ruth's thoughts and perspective this time, gaaaah, cue the waterworks!

I absolutely loved seeing Ruth and her adoptive mom Etsuko discuss why they adopted Ruth and the beautiful story behind their choice.  Etsuko was so considerate of her daughter's feelings and supportive of her choices.  She knew Ruth would feel divided by her loyalty to her and she let her daughter know it was not only possible but wonderful that she had two mothers to love her unconditionally.  Etsuko was strong and secure in her love for her child and accepted Rachel with open arms, which allowed Ruth to do the same.
We get to see Rachel's natural assimilation into Ruth's life and family; the beautiful dynamic of what could've easily been an awkward or uncertain situation.  The progression of their relationship was beautiful and incredibly emotional.

After reading about Ruth's time in Manzanar and then again reading the scene where she discusses it with Rachel, I was sobbing:

"'You were supposed to be free,' Rachel said in a whisper. 'You were never supposed to know what it was like to be taken from your home---separated from your family---to be shunned and feared.' Then, so softly Ruth could barely hear: 'That was all I had to give you.'" *

S o b b i n g. Do you hear me? Ughhhhh. So heartbreaking.

While Daughter of Moloka'i could be read as a standalone, please trust me when I say you will benefit from reading Moloka'i first and Daughter of Moloka'i immediately afterward for maximum emotional impact.  
Have some tissues ready.  
Then be prepared to find yourself lost in a rabbit hole of Wikipedia articles and library holds on leprosy, the history of Moloka'i, and Japanese American internment camps.

Brennert did an impressive amount of research on all the subject matter covered in both novels.  They are heartbreaking subjects that are not easy to discuss and even harder to come to terms with (yeah, they still don't teach students in American History class about the Japanese American internment camps) but they are handled with care and skill.  The stories of Rachel and Ruth may be fiction but I connected with these characters on a deep level and will not soon forget them.

Many thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.  Daughter of Moloka'i is scheduled for release on February 19, 2019.

*The quote included is from a digital advance readers copy and is subject to change upon final publication.

Parallels to the holocaust in Germany, this story details mistreatment of Japanese in America during the same era while also illustrating a person affected by Leprosy and her child given up for adoption

The bittersweet tale of a half Hawaiian, half Japanese girl adopted by a Japanese family. They toil on a farm in California only to uprooted and sent to internment camps when World War II begin. There is much love and laughter before the war then a resignation during and after but Ruth Utagawa finds her way home. The powerful, poignant sequel to Moloka’i. Well worth reading, but be warned - tears will be shed.

It’s been almost three years since I read Moloka’i and I was concerned that I would not remember the plot. However, Daughter of Moloka’i provides the back-story when needed and it is not necessary to have read Moloka’i to appreciate this book.

We learn Ruth’s story, from infancy through toddlerhood, from her life at the Kapi’olani Home for Girls to her hopes of being adopted, and what her life is like once she is adopted by the Watanabes, a Japanese family. Ruth is half Hawaiian and half Japanese, and she is thrilled to be with others who have the same shaped eyes that she has. The Watanabe family moves from Honolulu to her uncle’s farm in Florin, California. Unfortunately, there is a lot of prejudice against the Japanese by the white community and Ruth learns that she is not immune to this bigotry. The years move forward and we see Ruth grow into a young married woman. The US turns to war after Pearl Harbor is attacked by the Japanese and the government’s reaction is to round up anyone of Japanese descent and transfer them to various camps set up throughout the Western US. Life in these camps is described in excruciating detail, and we learn how the Watanabe family adjusts to this new life. Ultimately, WWII ends and the Japanese are allowed to return to their former lives. They must build new lives as their former livelihoods are no longer available. The third part of the story entails Ruth learning about her birth mother and the decision of whether to meet her. Would it be disrespectful to her adoptive mother?

The descriptions of scenery are depicted in such a way that you can truly visualize what the author is portraying. In addition to Ruth, we see how the other characters grow and change as they must face the many challenges before them.

I found this a fascinating book, learning many relatively unknown aspects of US history, both the good and horrible. I definitely recommend this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for providing me with an ARC of this book in exchange for an unbiased review.

Ruth was sure no one would want to adopt her, because she was hapa – half Hawaiian, half Japanese – and though several families had come to the orphanage to meet her, they had all decided against adopting her. When a Japanese couple visits, specifically requesting a Japanese girl, the Sisters at the orphanage knew Ruth would be a perfect fit. Her two older brothers and parents were kind and loving, her childhood in Hawaii was nearly ideal, but everything changed when Ruth’s father received an offer to work with his brother in California. California was not as welcoming towards the Japanese as was Hawaii, and the family experienced racism from many of the community members of Florin.

After high school graduation, Ruth looks for a job, but has no luck. Exhausted, she enters a diner and meets Frank, the man she will marry. They build a life together, have two children, care for their parents as dutiful children in their culture do, but after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and their subsequent forced relocation to Manzanar, their world falls apart.

Being a huge fan of historical fiction, I was looking forward to reading this book, and I was not disappointed. I have not read Moloka’i, Alan Brennert’s first book, but will definitely look for it after reading Daughter of Moloka’i. This book does well as a stand-alone, and is fascinating in his historical detail.

There are some books and authors you connect with and then there are others that try as you might, just don't bring that connection to fruition.

I know that there are many wonderful reviews of this book, and I surely understand the accolades and the four and five star ratings. As I look back at my reading of Mr Brennert's first book, I see that I also did not rate it more than a three. So perhaps, this author and I just don't make that connection so very important to a satisfying reading.

I appreciate so Ruth's story. What some Japanese people who resided in America, went through was both tragic and a severe case for the evils of racism. In reality, this was the part of the book that I enjoyed reading, because I learned of things I never knew. I also enjoyed the first half of the book as we meet Ruth, her trials as an unwanted girl, born of parents who were lepers, residing in a convent school, and cared for by loving nuns. I loved the fact that she was adopted by a loving couple and eventually brought to California to be raised by her new parents and her new siblings.

So, what was it that fell apart for me? In all honesty, I would have to say that the telling of the story seemed to become bogged down by the wordiness of details. I wanted more showing, more action, and less telling. I found myself skimming, which is never a good sign, and was just not involved in the characters as I so wanted to be.

I know I am pretty much of an outlier of this and Mr Brennert's former book. I know he is well versed in the topics he explores, and I feel bad that a book so loved by others fell short for me.
Thank you to Alan Brennert, St Martin's Press, and NetGalley for a copy of this book for an honest review.

I was ecstatic that I received Daughter if Moloka’i in advance, it’s is by far my most anticipated read of 2019 so far. I read Moloka’i years ago and still recommend it today.

I slightly nervous that it wouldn’t be able to fill the enormous shoes of its predecessor butttt I had hope. It did not disappoint. From happy highs to tears of frustration and some of sadness. This book brought out all the stops. Starting in the 1920s orphanage in Hawaii to the 1960s California. It covers a Japanese/Hawaiian family though the good, the bad and the ugly.

I highly recommend both books. You’ll learn a thing or two while your at it. I can’t say enough.
#allthestars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Alan Brennert has done it again. Another fantastic historical fiction piece. While I never got around to reading Molika’i, you do not have to read it first. I did read Honolulu which made me fall in love with his writing style.
Daughter of Molika’i tells the story of Ruth whose mother Rachel lived an isolated life on a leprosy settlement in Honolulu and is forced give her up not long after her birth. Ruth lives in an orphanage where she endlessly dreams of being adopted but fears that since she is hapa; half Hawaiian half Japanese and the child of lepers, her time may never come. Only her wish becomes a reality and she is eventually adopted by a Japanese family. The love her new family has for her is beyond words. To quote the novel, “There is a saying in Japanese: ‘To love a child as if it were a butterfly or a flower.’ Will you be my flower, little one?” Ruth considered that. “I’d rather be a butterfly.”As Ruth learns the ways of a Japanese family with challenges in between, she fears her return to the orphanage. I loved the response of her mother, “Oh, dearest one, no, never, never. We will love you forever.”

Ruth and her new family move to California where she grows and blossoms into a lovely young woman with hopes and dreams and a family who is proud of their daughter. Ruth and her family soon face hardships and tragedy as their lives are uprooted at the commencement of World War ll when, they are forced to live at the Manzanar Relocation Camp; a place for Japanese Americans while the war continued. Following the war, Ruth and her family must rebuild everything they have lost all those years ago. As life continues Ruth’s world is turned on its axis when she is contacted by her birth mother Rachel. As their relationship progresses, Ruth embarks on new adventures with her family and embraces a love she never thought possible for her birth mother. Ruth quotes; I’m lucky, you see: I had two mothers. One gave life to me; one raised me. But they both loved me. You know, some people don’t even get that once.”
Daughter of Molika’i is a riveting tale filled with love, hardships, sacrifice and strength. Alan Brennert took his time, did his research implicitly and created a masterpiece.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Daughter of Moloka'i book review - no spoilers -
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This one is hard to write with zero spoilers as it is a sequel/partner book but I'll do my best. If you haven't read the first one, Moloka'i, I highly encourage you to do so. It's beautifully written and eye-opening. I had no idea about what was done with leprosy victims in the past. .
Now moving on to Daughter of Moloka'i. It begins with our protagonist Ruth as a small child in an orphanage. She is struggling to understand why no one wants to adopt her when suddenly she is requested by a family. Ruth is thrilled and scared at the prospect of her new life but her new family is warm and welcoming. We follow Ruth, moving from Hawaii to California and in turn due to the times (WWII) and her nationality (part Japanese) - an internment camp and back out again. Though freedom is coveted, the world has changed. She adapts, she endures, and life goes on. Flash forward and Ruth is now a young mother about to have her world turned upside down once more with a letter found. A phonecall is made and we are taken on a new journey of discovery and the true meaning of ohana - family. .
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I highly recommend this book ! Thank you to #netgalley and #stmartinspress for the advanced reading copy in exchange for an honest review. It was an absolute pleasure to be able to read this novel.

Needless to say, I was not ready for this book at all. I never read the first book Moloka'i, and luckily with this book, I didn't have to. I learned so much from this story. In my school, in the 1990s, we weren't taught anything about the racism that the Japenese Americans had to endure. We learned about everything but that. We learned about everything everyone else had done, but not what our own government had done on the orders of our President So this story was a shock to me and to my mother who also had not been taught about all of the horrific things that our government did.
It took me a little longer to read this story because I slowed down and really read word for word, and through my tears gained a new understanding. I can say that without a doubt this book has changed me it tugs at my soul.
This story since it is based on fact should be a mandatory read for all high school students especially while learning about WW2 and Pearl Harbor. Hmph, actually EVERYONE should read this.

I highly recommend this book, Daughter of Moloka'i to everyone. I don't care who you are. I usually read horror, fantasy, and sci-fi. But I am so glad that I received this book for review.
The author did a wonderful job writing this, and I am so glad he did. I will be buying this book when it comes out and having my daughter read it. Like I said EVERY American should read this. We need to learn from our past mistakes and quit repeating them!!!

I was equal parts thrilled and apprehensive about Daughter of Moloka'i. Moloka'i is easily one of the books I've recommended the most over the years as both a librarian and personally, and I wasn't sure if it needed a follow-up. However, my desire to dive back into Alan Brennert's writing won out. Judging by my 5-star rating, it was worth it.
Alan Brennert is masterful at creating a setting. I was initially a little disappointed when he moved the setting from Hawaii to California, but it turned out that he was able to still really cement a place and time beautifully- and horribly. Brennert wrote very effectively about the interment camps- I felt deep shame and sadness reading the chapters set during the family's experiences with these in World War II. This book is a story of a life that is not without tragedy- but Ruth's story is, overall, one that is very full, with plenty to fill the pages. It's a fitting follow-up to Moloka'i, and while I think that this is a good place to leave these characters, I hope that Brennert returns to tell another story in Hawaii.

This lovely book is the sequel to the wonderful book "Moloka'i". The first book was about Rachel Kalama, a woman sent to the leper colony on Moloka'i who had a baby named Ruth. "Daughter" is Ruth's story, and it's a beautifully written and moving book,

After her adoption on Oahu, Ruth and her family move to California. As an Asian-American prior and during WWII, she and her family are discriminated against and are eventually placed in a relocation camp. The details are searing and brought me to tears.

I don't want to give away the rest of this book, but Ruth and her mother Rachel reunite. I highly recommend reading this book!

Thanks to St. Martin's Press and NetGalley for the ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 Stars

As this story begins, we are taken to the Kapi’olani Home for Girls, a home to some fifty-eight girls from the youngest who were not quite yet two years old, to the oldest at twenty-one. With the night nurse sick, Louisa is covering her shift, and as much as she’s appreciating the beauty wrought by Nature’s storm outside, she is sensitive to the younger ones fears of the noise of the storm. It is on this night that another sister arrives at the door, with a young infant girl in her arms. The child’s name is Ruth Utagawa, and she has been brought over from Kalaupapa, a Hawaiian leper colony, where she was taken from her mother after her birth to avoid her contracting leprosy, as her mother had.

As the years pass, families come to visit the children, and some are adopted, but Ruth is passed by for her mixed heritage, her mother Hawaiian, her father Japanese. That is until the Watanabes, a Japanese family who have sons, but no daughter, decide to adopt Ruth and soon after move to Northern California, where they help run and co-own a farm producing strawberries in Florin, a small town in the 1920s when this begins, about 10 miles southeast of Sacramento. There is a slightly more subtle prejudice against the Japanese, already, but when Japan attacks Pearl Harbor this family’s life changes almost overnight.

Having been to almost every location mentioned in this story, Maui, Kauai, Oahu, Kalaupapa, the location of the former Tanforan Racetrack, to some of the locations of the Japanese-American “camps” which “housed” some of those confined, to the mention of Hotel Sainte Claire (since renamed the Westin San Jose), one of those grand 1920s era buildings registered on the National Register of Historic Places, made this so much easier for me to envision the story, but this story would have moved me, regardless.

Ruth is a woman who begins life under such heartbreaking circumstances that these trials she faces would bring most to their knees, but she faces them without it breaking her spirit completely. As the years pass and her life story slowly unveils itself a little at a time, the bittersweet moments are overshadowed by moments of joy, leaving her with some heartwarming memories as the years pass and a sense of hope for the future.

I haven’t read Alan Brennert’s, Moloka’i – although I plan to now that I’ve finished reading this – so I can’t say if it’s better to read it beforehand or not, but this story stands on its own without reading Moloka’I, the first in this series.


Pub Date: 19 Feb 2019

Many thanks for the ARC provided by St. Martin’s Press

This was a very interesting book. It touched on a subject matter that is very seldom talked about. I remember being told in history class about the american internment camps but that was it. this was a very unique way to see it first hand and the after effects of them are still being felt. excellent book.

Moloka'i is, simply put, a fascinating, endearing, haunting, and compelling story about Rachel Kalama, a character that invades and remains in one's heart. Rachel was torn from her family in Honolulu and exiled to Molokai, where she remained quarantined for more than 50 years in Kalaupapa, an isolated leprosy settlement. She was fortunate to meet a wonderful man, Kenji, and marry, but they were heartbroken when they were forced to give their only child, daughter Ruth, up a few hours after her birth. After one year in isolation on Molokai -- during which her parents could only visit her with a glass wall separating them -- Ruth was put up for adoption.

Daughter of Molokai follows Ruth from her arrival at the Kapi'olani Home for Girls in Honolulu, to her adoption at age 5 by a Japanese couple. After a few years happily growing up in Honolulu with her parents and older brothers, the family relocates to Florin, California, a small town near Sacramento. Her family joins her father's brother and his family on their strawberry and Flame Tokay grape farm. Rachel marries Frank and the two of them are happily running a local business and raising their two young children when the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, changes everything. Rachel and family are forced to leave everything behind and enter an internment camp, eventually assigned to Manzanar Relocation Camp. After the war, her life is again changed when she intercepts a letter to her parents from a woman who claims to be Ruth’s birth mother, Rachel.

At that point, the two books overlap. Moloka'i was Rachel's story and her eventual relationship with Ruth was not described in detail or from Ruth's point of view. That aspect of the story is related in Daughter of Molokai.

Author Alan Brennert has crafted a worthy follow up to Moloka'i. It is an equally rich tale, focused upon Ruth's upbringing in a Japanese family, struggle to understand why her mother gave her up, and challenges as a person who is hapa (of both Hawaiian and Japanese descent) living in the Japanese community. Scrupulously researched, Daughter of Molokai explores the extreme prejudice toward Japanese nationals, as well as their children and grandchildren, in California which was exacerbated on a national scale when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Brennert describes, in heartbreaking detail, the indignities to which Ruth and her family are subjected during World War II, illustrating the different ways in which the various family members respond.

And he fully explores the reunion of Rachel and her beloved only child and the relationship they are at long last able to forge. Rachel deems it nothing less than a miracle, brought about the cure for leprosy, later known as Hansen's Disease, developed in the 1940's. From Ruth's perspective, meeting her mother allows her to discover the truth about her past, and develop an understanding and appreciation of the Hawaiian culture.

Like Molokai, Daughter of Molokai is a beautiful story, full of historical and cultural detail that leaves the reader richer for the experience of having read the book. Brennert's love of the Hawaiian and Japanese people is evident in the accurate, yet compassionate, manner in which he tells the story of his characters' lives. Daughter of Molokai is poignant, emotionally satisfying, and powerfully eloquent. I enthusiastically give both Molokai and Daughter of Molokai my strongest recommendation.

Someone asked me recently, what were my five star books of 2019. I told them I hadn't read any...that all changed today! I was thrilled when I heard Alan Brennert was writing a sequel to Moloka'i, which is one of my all time favorites. He did not disappoint! Daughter of Moloka'i is the story of Ruth, the daughter Rachel was forced to give up at birth because the residents were not allowed to keep their children at Kalaupapa, the leper colony on the island of Moloka'i. Brennet not only beautifully describes the landscapes of Hawaii, he captures the heartbreaking treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II. This is a story of family, love, and loyalty. If you like strong female protagonists, coming of age stories, and historical fiction you will love this! If you loved Moloka'i you will undoubtedly love this!

These two books—Molokai and Daughter of Moloka’i—have turned out to be some of the best books I’ve read in years. I’d had Moloka’i on my to-read list since 2013, but only got around to reading it this January, 2019, when I took a trip to Honolulu. It was perfect for the flight and I got to read about a place I was visiting, perfect. But the book became so much more than that. The writing was beautiful, I probably teared up about fifteen times, and I ended the book with a deep sadness that it was over and I was never again going to experience this amazing book for the first time.

Lo and behold, I come home from my Hawaiian vacation to find the author has written a sequel, and even though there are fifteen years between the books, I came onto the scene at exactly the right time. Daughter of Moloka’i was to be published in only a month, and better yet, it was available for request on Netgalley. I received the ARC and devoured the sequel just as I devoured its predecessor.

In a way, it’s hard to rate the books individually. Most of Moloka’i happens at the same time as Daughter of Moloka’i, though they only overlap in a few places, and these places were the only times I felt bored. If I’d had even a few months between books, this likely wouldn’t have bothered me at all. They are both such touching, heart-wrenching, exquisitely painful books. If you are bothered by reading of another’s plight, these books are not for you. They will gut you. But they are still so, so worth it. The lyrical prose, the well-rounded characters, the tackling of difficult and complex issues, these books have it all. Both have sweet love stories, though they are not the main focus, but they are, more than anything, the saga of a blended, extended family living through the most harrowing times and places in the Western United States.

From a Hawaiian orphanage to rural California and the anti-Japanese racism that eventually led to the internment camps, Ruth’s story was ever-evolving and always interesting. At times, it was almost too hard to read about the suffering some of these people went through—similar to reading about the leper colonies—but I still couldn’t put the book down. These stories need to be told. I didn’t know Japanese internment had occurred at all until I was I college, and I live about twenty minutes from one of the camps. It was simply never taught in schools or talked about in polite conversation. Yet how many books are there on the Holocaust? To forget this dark episode in our history is to risk it happening again.

Suffice it to say these books had an impact on me. They are both going on my list of all-time favorites and I hope, for all our sakes, that it doesn’t take the author fifteen years to come out with another wonderful, mind-expanding work of art. Now, more than ever, these are the types of books we need.

I received an ARC from St. Martin’s Press and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Great historical fiction title for adult readers (not so much for my adolescent readers though). The story, characters and development is very well done and the cover is just lovely.

A richly vivid and beautifully told historical fiction story. And the cover for this title is just gorgeous. I would highly recommend this one to anyone who loves historical fiction, you will not be disappointed! Thank you to the publisher and netgalley for my free review copy in exchange for an honest review.

I loved Moloka'i, and have just as much loved Daughter of Moloka'i. This continues the story of Rachel, but is more centered around the life of her daughter, Ruth. as she lived with her adoptive family in California. From a very early age, Ruth has an affinity for animals, and loves her life on the farm in California. Ruth grows to adulthood, marries, and has her own children. But during WWII the wonderful life they are living is torn apart, as they are all sent to interment camps for Japanese-Americans. The story continues to follow their lives there, and after the war. Part of he most endearing aspects of this story is the gracious and loving way Ruth's adoptive family welcomes Rachel into their extended family.