Books like Makai by Kathleen Tyau
Kathleen Tyau’s second novel follows two Chinese‑Hawaiian women, Alice Lum and Annabel Lee, as their intertwined lives span the tumultuous years surrounding World War II and beyond. Beginning in Honolulu’s Chinatown with gas‑mask‑clad high schoolers amid the Pearl Harbor attack, the story shows how the girls’ friendship is tested and shaped by love, rivalry, and the call of the sea. After the war, Annabel leaves Hawaii for a mainland dream in Florida, while Alice stays, marries, and confronts the anxieties of marriage, motherhood, and island living. Years later, their paths reunite in Hawaii, where they confront the echoes of their past and the lives of their children, revealing the enduring bonds and challenges of a friendship forged in war and nurtured by coastal culture.
First publish date: 1999
Genre: Historical Fiction/20th Century Historical Fiction
Authors: Kathleen Tyau
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