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Hula

A Novel

by Jasmin Iolani Hakes

Narrator Mapuana Makia

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Length 10 hours 43 minutes

Language English

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Bookseller recommendation

“This read feels like the ocean lapping gently on the shore. A strong tale of Hawaii’s history into its present. Family, loyalty and culture are all challenged as you follow these women find themselves and hold on to their people. ”
— Alex • Bookishly Happy

Bookseller recommendation

“Hakes implores her audience to consider what makes a family, a community, a people, and at what cost. Incredible storytelling, rich complex characters, and a beautiful window into Hawaiian culture! ”
— Staci • Whitelam Books

Bookseller recommendation

“What a gorgeous, invigorating debut. Jasmin Iolani Hakes has written the novel we needed about Hawaii. The story is told from the perspective of three generations of women in a legendary family, and through the omnipotent We of the Hawaiian people, using traditional language and dialogue throughout, requiring the reader to become familiar with the terms and context of their use. The story of these women is the story of Hula, the history and struggles and profound beauty of Hawaii, and also the infuriating story of American colonialism, the consequences of a stolen land and utter disregard for the sovereignty of the Hawaiian people. It is a love song to the people and the land of Hawaii, and one we should all listen to. ”
— Cassie • Roundabout Books

Summary
About the author

Audiofile Magazine Earphones Award Winner • Named a Best Book of the Summer by Harper's Bazaar and ELLE

“Stunning…an intricately built novel that spans decades, moving in and out of a collective voice, while also telling Hi’i’s deeply personal and devastating story of trying to find her way.” –Los Angeles Times

“A full-throated chant for Hawai'i. . . . It’s impossible to come away unchanged.” —KAWAI STRONG WASHBURN, author of the PEN/Hemingway award-winning Sharks in the Times of Saviors

Set in Hilo, Hawai’i, a sweeping saga of tradition, culture, family, history, and connection that unfolds through the lives of three generations of women—a tale of mothers and daughters, dance and destiny.

“There’s no running away on an island. Soon enough, you end up where you started.”

Hi'i is proud to be a Naupaka, a family renowned for its contributions to hula and her hometown of Hilo, Hawaii, but there’s a lot she doesn’t understand. She’s never met her legendary grandmother and her mother has never revealed the identity of her father. Worse, unspoken divides within her tight-knit community have started to grow, creating fractures whose origins are somehow entangled with her own family history.

In hula, Hi'i sees a chance to live up to her name and solidify her place within her family legacy. But in order to win the next Miss Aloha Hula competition, she will have to turn her back on everything she had ever been taught, and maybe even lose the very thing she was fighting for.

Told in part in the collective voice of a community fighting for its survival, Hula is a spellbinding debut that offers a rare glimpse into a forgotten kingdom that still exists in the heart of its people.

Fiction

Jasmin Iolani Hakes was born and raised in Hilo, Hawai'i. Her essays have appeared in the Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Bee. She is the recipient of the Best Fiction award from the Southern California Writers Conference, a Squaw Valley LoJo Foundation Scholarship, a Writing by Writers Emerging Voices fellowship, and a Hedgebrook residency. Dance has always been central to Jasmin's life and creativity. She took her first hula class when she was four years old and danced for the esteemed Halau o Kekuhi and the Tahitian troupe Hei Tiare. She worked throughout college as a professional luau dancer. She lives in California.