Favorite Quote: "People get knocked off their path all the time. Important
thing is you know your Hõk˜upa'a, your North Star, and you bring
yourself back on course. The sooner the better."
1941. Hawaii. Pearl Harbor. US enters WWII. This is the
history against which this book is set. Some of the history used in
the book...
The Kilauea Military Camp was originally built as a rest and
relaxation facility for military members and their families. After the
attack on Pearl Harbor, the facility was used as an interment camp for
people of Japanese and German descent. People were rounded up and held
on suspicion simply for their ethnic heritage. Families were torn
apart, and lives were destroyed.
In the 1940s, Mauna Loa erupted. The army bombed the lava flow to
prevent it from reaching the city of Hilo. Per the author's note, the
timeline has been changed somewhat to match the timing of the story,
but it did occur. According to recent news stories, a hiker discovered
unexploded bombs near the crater earlier this year.
The Ãinahou Ranch, now on the National Register of Historic Places, is
a home built in what is now Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
Supposedly, one of the originals purposes of the home was to provide a
hideout or haven against a Japanese invasion.
Now the story....
Lana Hitchcock arrives back on the Big Island to see her father. They
have been estranged for many years. Unfortunately, nothing goes
as Lana envisions. Her father passes away before her arrival. She
meets her neighbors who are of German heritage reconnects with one of
her father's old friends, who is of Japanese heritage. The attack on
Pearl Harbor happens. To protect her old and new friends, Lana runs
with them to a home that her father built, apparently for this very
purpose.
The rest of the book is about what happens to Lana and her friends in
this new home. Although the book is based on the events of the war,
the war itself and the resulting internments fade somewhat into the
background of this story. I wish more had been described about the
history, but this book goes in a different direction.
For one, a love story develops and takes center stage. The love story
I could do without, but that part of the book does raise the question
of trust in a relationship and the balance between duty and the
responsibility to do the right thing. The book description is very
clear that romance is an element of the story. I do, however, wish
that the history of internment and its impact on the families had been
developed further. The ending too wraps it up neatly without looking
at the impact beyond.
The completely unexpected part of this story is what the description
refers to as "the magic on the volcano." That descriptor is not a
figure of speech. A significant portion of this book is magical
realism and the presence of certain powers in a child, in an adult,
and in the environment itself. Again, this aspect of the story looms
larger than the story of war that I was expecting. Perhaps, it is
about the power of belief and its ability to sustain us through
tough time? Perhaps, that is what I need to believe.
That being said, the background of the war against the beautiful,
haunting environment of the Hawaii volcanoes creates a readable story
of what happens when good people do the right thing and stand together
and for each other. That is a lesson well worth reiterating again and
again.
Red Sky Over Hawaii
Blog Tour
Author: Sara Ackerman
ISBN: 978-0778309673
Publication Date: June 9, 2020
Publisher: MIRA Books
Author Bio:
Sara Ackerman is the USA Today bestselling author of The
Lieutenant's Nurse and Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers.
Born and raised in Hawaii, she studied journalism and
earned graduate degrees in psychology and Chinese
medicine. She blames Hawaii for her addiction to writing,
and sees no end to its untapped stories. When she's not
writing or teaching, you'll find her in the mountains or
in the ocean. She currently lives on the Big Island with
her boyfriend and a houseful of bossy animals. Find out
more about Sara and her books at www.ackermanbooks.com and
follow her on Instagram @saraackermanbooks and on FB
@ackermanbooks.
Book Summary:For
fans of Chanel Cleeton and Beatriz Williams, RED SKY OVER
HAWAII is historical women's fiction set in the islands
during WWII. It's the story of a woman who has to put her
safety and her heart on the line when she becomes the
unexpected guardian of a misfit group and decides to hide
with them in a secret home in the forest on Kilauea
Volcano.
The attack on Pearl Harbor changes
everything for Lana Hitchcock. Arriving home on the Big
Island too late to reconcile with her estranged father,
all she can do is untangle the clues of his legacy, which
lead to a secret property in the forest on Kilauea
Volcano. America has been drawn into WWII, and amid rumors
of impending invasion, the army places the islands under
martial law. When they start taking away neighbors as
possible sympathizers, Lana finds herself suddenly
guardian to two girls, as well as accomplice to an old
family friend who is Japanese, along with his son. In a
heartbeat, she makes the decision to go into hiding with
them all.
The hideaway house is not what Lana
expected, revealing its secrets slowly, and things become
even more complicated by the interest of Major Grant
Bailey, a soldier from the nearby internment camp. Lana is
drawn to him, too, but needs to protect her little group.
With a little help from the magic on the volcano, Lana
finds she can open her bruised heart to the children--and
maybe to Grant.
A lush and evocative novel
about doing what is right against the odds, following your
heart, and what makes a family.
Author Q&A:
Q: Would you tell us what inspired you to write Red Sky
Over Hawaii?
A: I’ll start with saying that Hawaii Volcanoes National
Park (the setting) is one of my favorite places. There is a
vast and unearthly beauty there, with a unique rainforest
and ecosystem. I spend a lot of time exploring the
backcountry and lava flows in the area. One day several
years ago, I came upon a rustic old house tucked away in a
remote part of the park. You would never even know it’s
there. Needless to say, I was intrigued. When I dug deeper
and found the house was originally built as a hideaway house
in 1941 in case of a Japanese invasion, I knew I had to
write a book about it someday. A year or so later, I met a
woman who told me about her friend’s mother, who had been a
little girl during the attack on Pearl Harbor and how her
parents had been taken away and held for over a year by the
FBI because they were German. I tracked down that story,
which broke my heart, and decided I would merge the two and
loosely base my story on them. Also, I’ve always been
fascinated at how ordinary people band together during
crises, and at the human capacity for resilience, so I
wanted to explore this in my novel.
Q: Which character in this novel do you most relate to
and why?A: I would have to say Lana, though Coco might come
in a close second. Lana was at one of those difficult
crossroads in life, where everything seems to fall apart at
once. Though the events of her life are different than mine,
I’ve been through these periods where everything looks bleak
and you have to pull it together just to survive.
Q: What challenged you the most while writing this
story?A: In terms of life, I had recently lost my father,
and so writing about Lana’s father Jack and the house felt
very parallel (my father was an architect who built his own
house) to my own experience. It was a very emotional book
for me to write, and yet I think it also helped me to work
through my own grief. In terms of the writing, I didn’t have
a whole lot to go on in terms of books or resources of what
it was like at Volcano during the war. I’d had the opposite
problem with The Lieutenant’s Nurse, since that was about
Pearl Harbor. Luckily, I found one publication put out by
the National Parks Service that saved me. I also had a few
kupuna (elders) here that shared their memories with me. We
are running out of living references from WWII, so I feel
honored to get to talk story with them.
Q: You must do a lot of research for your writing. What
was something interesting you learned while compiling
research for this book?
A: When I set out to write it, I knew about the detainment
camp at KMC (Kilauea Military Camp) but I had no idea that
there was so much military activity up there. In early
1942 the Army 27th Infantry Division set up headquarters
there and patrolled coastlines and trained for
another anticipated invasion. When researching, there are
always so many unexpected things that turn up. I love it!
Social:
Facebook: @ackermanbooks
Twitter: @AckermanBooks
Instagram: @saraackermanbooks
Buy Links:
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