The Shores of Paradise - Tapa dura

"Streshinsky's writing is consistently effortless." --San Francisco Chronicle

"[Streshinsky's novels] are the best historical fiction being written in America." --John Jay Osborn, Jr., bestselling author of Paper Chase

From Publishers Weekly
Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Streshinsky's latest novel (after The Gift of the Golden Mountain) intertwines the lives of four colorful characters during a turbulent period of Hawaiian history. Martha Moon, abandoned by her parents, is eventually expelled from a Catholic orphanage in Honolulu and sent to Hale Mana'olana (House of Hope), a school for "the unwanted and unloved" located on a breezy stretch of beach at Waikiki. There Martha develops friendships with two other "young outcasts," the dwarf Liko and True, who has witnessed the murder of her mother. The three become inseparable and, after meeting the frail Hawaiian princess Kaiulani, they add her to their coterie. Conveyed chiefly as Martha's memoirs, the story is gently laced with Hawaiian legends and the characters' correspondence. Streshinsky exhibits a persuasive understanding of Hawaiian class distinctions, culture and folklore. While the shifts in point of view and voice can be distracting, the narrative is unified by the lush detail that exudes the warmth of the islands.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Like Streshinsky's others (Gift of the Golden Mountain, 1988, etc.): a hefty, quietly narrated, years-spanning tale of love and loss in a rousing setting. Here, the destinies of two women, orphaned in childhood, are entwined with cross-cultural turmoil and the death throes of an independent Hawaii during the years from 1898 to WW I. True Lindstrom, who witnessed the murder of her mother, and gentle half-Hawaiian, half-white Martha Moon, abandoned as a newborn, will meet in a kindly home for unwanted children and, with the dwarf Liko, form a friendship that will last lifelong. Later the tight trio will welcome another--the elegant child Princess Kaiulani (one of the several real people here; the princess was third in line to the throne of Hawaii, although she, like Martha, was only half-Hawaiian). While Monarchists, Reformers, and the Missionary Boys' (descendants of missionaries bent on control of the islands) contend for the body and soul of Hawaii, the four friends mature and wade into trouble and woe. True loses the love of her life to a stupid marriage, but makes a strange one of her own to protect her unborn child by her lover; Liko secretly cherishes a love that dare not speak its name; and Martha haplessly hopes for love and career. Poor Princess Kaiulani will never occupy a throne. It's only after tragic deaths, a period of bitterness, injustice, even violence over control of a ranch, and mistakes all around, that all find love or a kind of peace. A chatty saga (perhaps a bit long-winded) with convincing appreciations of the history and culture of Hawaii. --Copyright (c)1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

In a narrative spanning the final decades of the 1800s, the end of the Hawaiian monarchy, annexation by the Unites States, and World War I, the lives of four starkly different headstrong individuals are inextricably woven.
    True Lindstrom was brought to the orphanage at Waikiki as a young girl. As bold as she is fair, True harbors a tragic childhood secret—as well as a fierce love for Evan Coulter, which she will defy fate and circumstance to fulfill. Twelve years older than True, handsome Evan is an accomplished rider with an abiding love for the land and its people. His political future now seems limitless—until his passion for True jeopardizes his marriage and forces a decision that could alter Hawaiian history. Princess Kaiulani, a delicate child who traces her ancestry to Scottish landowners on her father’s side and centuries of Hawaiian royalty on her mother’s, is heiress apparent to the Hawaiian throne. The last hope of the Hawaiian monarchy, she is all too aware of the enormous responsibility places on her frail shoulders and understands that she will either grow up to rule the islands—or die a martyr to them.
    These dynamic lives are woven into a tale by Martha Moon, the gentle teacher who casts herself in the ancient Hawaiian role of storyteller. It is through her eyes that we witness four lifetimes of adversity, sorrow, joy, and ultimate triumph.