“The true alchemists do not change lead into gold; they change the world into words.”
—Novelist William Gass
Daughters of Fire is a journey into the deeper beauty and hidden turmoil of America’s 50th state, a gripping adventure of romance, intrigue, myth, and murder set amid the cultural tensions of today’s Hawaiʻi.
Three Hawaiian women—an activist, an anthropologist, and an aging seer—call forth their deepest traditions to confront an extravagant resort development. A visiting astronomer stumbles into their world, falls in love with the anthropologist, and enters a Polynesian realm of volcanoes, gods, and revered ancestors. But a murder on the lava and an impending eruption expose deep rifts in paradise.
More than a decade in its research and writing, Tom’s mystical and provocative novel picks up Hawaiʻi’s story where James Michener left off. Daughters of Fire illuminates how the islands’ transformation into a tourist mecca and developers gold mine sparked a Native Hawaiian movement to reclaim their culture, protect sacred land, and step into the future with wisdom and aloha.
The novel includes beautiful pen and ink illustrations by renowned nature artist John D. Dawson and stunning cover art—Pele, Goddess of Volcanoes—by celebrated Hawaiian artist, historian and author Herb Kawainui Kane.
The critically acclaimed novel, now in its fourth printing, is published by Bess Press in Honolulu. The book is popular with islanders and visitors alike and has been used by US colleges and universities in their literature, American studies, anthropology and environmental studies courses.
John D. Dawson’s illustration of the 1801 eruption of Hualalai in the novel’s historical prologue.
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