Rainforest Puuhonua

As a child, Kahikahealani Wight loved Hawaiian stories and songs, and wanted to learn everything she could about her culture, but during those years, it was discouraged. Then in midlife, she purchased a cottage near the erupting summit of Kilauea in a native rainforest and lived there for five years. Rainforest Puuhonua is her eloquent and moving memoir of cultural awakening amid the plants and ferns, birds and insects, mist and fires of old Hawaii. Wight's rhythmic prose and gift for moolelo — or story, along with exquisite paintings by local artists, convey the depth and magic of the East Hawaii bioregion, brining ancestral stories to life.