ISBN: 0312606346/ ISBN-13: 9780312606343

Honolulu

(Trade paperback)

by Alan Brennert

St. Martin's Griffin, 02/2010, 464 pages, English

'In Korea in those days, newborn girls were not deemed important enough to be graced with formal names, but were instead given nicknames, which often reflected the parents' feelings on the birth of a daughter: I knew a girl named Anger, and another called Pity. As for me, my parents named me Regret.' "HONOLULU" is the rich, unforgettable story of a young 'picture bride' who travels to Hawai'i in 1914. Instead of the affluent young husband and chance at an education that she has been promised, she is married off to a poor, embittered labourer who takes his frustrations out on his new wife. Renaming herself Jin, she makes her own way in this strange land, finding both opportunity and prejudice. With the help of three of her fellow picture brides, Jin prospers along with her adopted city, now growing from a small territorial capital into the great multicultural city it is today. But paradise has its dark side, whether it's the daily struggle for survival in Honolulu's tenements, or a crime that will become the most infamous in the islands' history...