The Floating City

On a sultry Honolulu morning, a body washes up on a beach. For Eva Hanson, the only haole (Caucasian) among the group of women fishing who discover it, this becomes her kuleana, her obligation to report it to the police. But this body, not meant to be found, is missing when the police arrive. With no family and few friends, Eva, a European living under a stolen name on the fringes of society, becomes an easy target. Now a suspect in the missing man's death, Eva meets McClelland, a Scotsman with a past as mysterious as hers. Against her own instincts, she begins to fall in love. But McClelland has troubles of his own. And Eva cannot escape the growing maelstrom of political and social upheaval as conflicting cultures vie for control of the island: Royalists still loyal to the overthrown queen; politicians in favor of annexation to the United States; missionaries looking to spread Christianity; and Hawaiians hoping to salvage what they can of their homeland, once a paradise, now ravaged by riots and disease.

With stunning prose that is both lush and sensual, Pamela Ball wondrously re-creates this unique period of time. Kuleana is a gorgeously written, evocative tale of an outsider thrust into intrigue-and the treacherous search for truth amid corruption and chaos.

Pamela Ball is haole, born and raised on Oahu of American parents. The author of Lava, she has won numerous writing awards, including the Hemingway Short Fiction Award.