Two Hawaiian women are caught up in the contemporary battle between colonial encroachment and Hawaiian sovereignty. Laka Naupaka returns to Hilo and her august family with a pale redheaded baby named Hi'i, offering no explanations and keeping her distance from her mother. Narrator Mapuana Makia voices the women central to the story with the strength, passion, and pain that fuel them. Hi'i grows into a child who is unsure of her place in the Hawaiian community and devoted to being Miss Aloha Hula like her mother. A chorus perspective of the Hawaiian people ties the story of family and responsibility to the political history of the islands. Makia's deft handling of the frequent Hawaiian words and dialect perfectly evokes the culture and people of Hilo. S.T.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

★ 03/27/2023

Hakes’s ambitious and poignant debut centers on a Hawaiian girl’s coming-of-age in Hilo. Laka Naupaka returns to Keaukaha in 1968 with her newborn baby daughter, Hi’i, after a brief stint working at a Maui resort. Her family, though, keep themselves at a distance and denounce Hi’i, who looks white, as a “haole.” As Hi’i grows up, she develops a thick skin to shield herself from the constant rumors that she was found behind a dumpster. Soon enough, Hi’i begs her mom to enroll her in a hula school. Laka, a former Miss Aloha Hula, reluctantly agrees. Meanwhile Laka’s mother, Hulali, a pillar of the burgeoning native Hawaiian movement, is deeply invested in promoting Hawaiian culture, language, and history, and relentlessly exhorts Laka to turn over Hi’i’s birth certificate so that she can be recognized as Hawaiian like the rest of the Naupaka family. When Hi’i’s lineage is eventually revealed, matters are further complicated for the family as well as for Hi’i’s dreams of hula. Hakes studs the story with marvelous details of Hawaiian cosmology and historical developments such as the formation of the Hawaiian kingdom and the purpose of hula (“It was our generational memory, our celestial genealogy. Hula told the story of who we were”). Hakes illuminates on every page. Agent: Sarah Bowlin, Aevitas Creative Management. (May)

A full-throated chant for Hawai'i. Part coming-of-age story, part historical family epic, all love. The pages fly by amidst fluid, furious language and captivating drama. This book breathes new life into island narratives...it's impossible to come away unchanged.” — Kawai Strong Washburn, author of the PEN/Hemingway award-winning Sharks in the Times of Saviors.

“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…[A]lthough the book never gives full access to the sacred knowledge of any individual dance, it’s hard not to feel each beat—a yearning for and a deep knowledge and love of both this practice and this place—somewhere deep in your belly by the end.” — Los Angeles Times

"[An] ambitious and poignant debut. . . . Hakes illuminates on every page.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"A proud, vibrant coming of age tale."
— Elle, The 39 Best New Books to Read on Summer 2023

"[An] immersive and astute debut…a deeply affecting story of mothers and daughters and what makes a family."
— Booklist (starred review)

"This debut novel moves with graceful power and sings with a voice as spellbinding as the rolling surf."
— Oprah Daily

"Lush descriptions of the natural environment and warm depictions of family events enrich the novel."
— Kirkus Reviews

HULA is an ode to family, home, and culture for fans of Brit Bennett and Tommy Orange. — Shelf Awareness (Starred Review)

“Hula is an unforgettable ode to Hawaii, its people, and the power and pain of its history. Through one family and its fearless women, Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes offers a profound examination of what it means to defy and to belong.” — Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country

“Majestic, powerful, mysterious, and captivating as Hawaiian mountains, Hula is a magnificent achievement, a courageous act of resistance against colonization, an epic love song for native Hawaiian people. I cannot wait for readers everywhere to celebrate Jasmin Iolani Hakes’ talent.” — Nguyen Phan Que Mai, internationally bestselling author of The Mountains Sing and Dust Child

“Hula immerses readers in a place they won’t find on any map sold to tourists, Hawaii for Hawaiians. Ferociously beautiful and beautifully ferocious, Hula is a novel soaked in the spirit of Haunani-Kay Trask.” — Myriam Gurba, award-wining author of Mean and Dahlia Season

“Raw, real and richly layered, Hula is a love letter to Hawai’i, most especially Keaukaha. The words in this novel hit like a hurricane––powerful and intense and imbued with every nuance of island life, from hanabata days to the final paddle out. Brilliantly written and expertly structured, the story of the Naupaka women, and the bitter struggles of the native Hawaiian people, will stay with you long after you’ve turned the last page. Jasmin ‘Iolani Hakes has penned a new classic in Hawaiian literature. I could not put this book down. Maika'i” — Sara Ackerman, bestselling author of Radar Girls and Red Sky Over Hawaii.

Two Hawaiian women are caught up in the contemporary battle between colonial encroachment and Hawaiian sovereignty. Laka Naupaka returns to Hilo and her august family with a pale redheaded baby named Hi'i, offering no explanations and keeping her distance from her mother. Narrator Mapuana Makia voices the women central to the story with the strength, passion, and pain that fuel them. Hi'i grows into a child who is unsure of her place in the Hawaiian community and devoted to being Miss Aloha Hula like her mother. A chorus perspective of the Hawaiian people ties the story of family and responsibility to the political history of the islands. Makia's deft handling of the frequent Hawaiian words and dialect perfectly evokes the culture and people of Hilo. S.T.C. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine

2023-03-28
The tragic history of Hawai‘i is told through the lives of several generations of women in a Native family.

When Laka Naupaka is named Miss Aloha Hula in the 1960s, she is continuing a proud family tradition. The Naupakas have lived in Hilo, on the Big Island, for many generations, and Laka’s foremothers have danced and taught the hula—not the denatured version performed in tourist traps but the intricate, difficult dance that embodies history, religion, and tradition for the islands’ Native people. Part of the history told in those dances is the forcible annexation of Hawai‘i by the United States. In 1887, the so-called Bayonet Constitution, written by a White businessman, stripped control of the islands from King Kalākaua and gave power and land—1.8 million acres of it—to White U.S. outsiders, evicting countless Native families. Laka’s grandmother Ulu was witness to that history, and her anger has been passed down. Her daughter, Hulali, and Hulali’s daughter, Laka, are fierce defenders of Hawaiian culture. But their fierceness can also make them unforgiving with one another. When, after being named Miss Aloha Hula, Laka leaves Hilo for a job on another island, her family is shocked. When she returns with a young daughter, Hi‘i, who has pale skin, red hair, and green eyes, Hulali cuts Laka off completely, refusing even to recognize Hi‘i as her grandchild. Hulali will become more involved in politics in the 1970s and ’80s, moving away from her family to Honolulu. As Hi‘i grows up, she tries to fit into the Naupaka family, undertaking rigorous training to learn hula, but her efforts often go awry. The novel moves back and forth in time to tell the stories of its characters and their home, most often focusing on Hi‘i as the main character. Although its pace can sometimes slow, lush descriptions of the natural environment and warm depictions of family events enrich the novel.

A grandmother, mother, and daughter are shaped by the continuing trauma of Hawaiian history.