Oahu, Hawaii, 1972. After the death of his beautiful
wife, Malia, in a drunken accident he caused, Hank Pualoa
is sentenced to jail for six months. During his
incarceration, his wife's widowed mother cares for his four-
year-old daughter, Leilani, and 18-month-old son, Kekoa.
When she finally brings them to visit him after refusing to
do so for several months, Hank is overjoyed. But his
happiness is shattered when Tutu Eme informs Hank he
will never see them again, that he does not deserve to be
their father after killing their mother. So on the day of
his release, and wanting what's best for his children, Hank
leaves the island.
Ten years later, Kekoa witnesses a horrific event that will
send him on the run from the only home he's known, fearing
for his life every day. Taking refuge wherever he can,
Kekoa encounters some interesting people living on the
streets of Chinatown, until he finally finds a home with a
Japanese baker and his wife, who treat him as the son they
never had. But Kekoa is always fearful of discovery and
constantly on the alert for danger. And well he should be,
for his life is in peril.
Not long after Kekoa runs away, his tutu
(grandmother) dies and his sister, Leilani, is placed with
a foster family, who enroll her in a private school. Though
Lani is lonely with no ohana (family) around, she
flourishes in the loving environment. But she is always
looking for Kekoa in the people she sees and longs for the
day they can be together again. And what has happened to
their father after all these years? Will he ever come home?
Hank is closer than anyone knows, and it will take his
timely intervention to save his beloved ohana, as
well as the myriad of people involved in their lives.
I loved this story! The authors write with such eloquent
detail, you can almost feel the island breezes and see the
breathtaking scenery. I've been to Hawaii numerous times
and lived there as a child, so I was familiar with many of
the places described. This is an uplifting story of family
and love, as well as being an extremely suspenseful novel
with a very satisfying ending.
When Hank Pualoa drives drunk, killing his beautiful wife, he tears apart his Hawaiian family (ohana) and leaves the Islands in shame. His children thrive with their grandmother until 12-year-old Kekoa witnesses the murder of Big John, his loving uncle. The murderer stalks him, plotting to kill his only witness. Kekoa flees, plunging into a hand-to-mouth life in the sugarcane fields, the Chinatown streets, and as a baker's helper to a Japanese couple. A stray black Lab becomes his only friend. He's lost his sister, Leilani, to a foster home, where she falls in love but yearns for her family. And will their father ever return? Cry Ohana vibrates with local color and breathtaking scenery. But danger lurks everywhere - at a Filipino wedding; at a Maui resort; and amid the Big Island's volcanic steam vents. Blackmail and betrayal erupt as the family struggles to reunite and bring down the killer.
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