Kiana Davenport je autorka, ktorej tvorba je hlboko zakorenená v jej bohatom rodovom dedičstve, spájajúcom rozsiahly Pacifik s americkým Juhom. Jej naratívy často skúmajú priesečník kultúr, čerpajúc zo svojho jedinečného pôvodu, ktorý ju spája s dávnymi polynézskymi osadníkmi Havaja a koloniálnou históriou Nového Anglicka. Prostredníctvom svojho presvedčivého štýlu sa Davenport ponára do zložitých rodinných vzťahov a pretrvávajúceho vplyvu histórie na súčasnosť. Jej romány ponúkajú čitateľom hlboké skúmanie identity, spolupatričnosti a univerzálnej ľudskej skúsenosti.
Als kleines Mädchen wurde Ana von ihrer Mutter auf Hawaii zurückgelassen und will nun nichts mehr wissen von dieser Fremden aus Amerika. Der frühe Verlust hat sie misstrauisch gemacht, und so stößt Ana jeden von sich, der ihr nahe kommen möchte. Bis sie dem Dokumentarfilmer Nikolai begegnet – mitten in einem Hurrikan. Bei Nikolai scheint Ana Frieden zu finden – und Unterstützung im Kampf für die Rechte ihres Volkes. Und doch kann sie die schmerzhafte Erinnerung an ihre Mutter und die tiefe Angst vor einem erneuten Verlust nicht überwinden: Als sie erfährt, dass Nicolai schwer krank ist, zieht sie sich zurück. Hals über Kopf verlässt Nicolai die Insel Hawaii …
In this epic, original novel in which Hawaii's fierce, sweeping past springs to life, Kiana Davenport, author of the acclaimed Shark Dialogues, draws upon the remarkable stories of her people to create a timeless, passionate tale of love and survival, tragedy and triumph, survival and transcendence. In spellbinding, sensual prose, Song of the Exile follows the fortunes of the Meahuna family--and the odyssey of one resilient man searching for his soul mate after she is torn from his side by the forces of war. From the turbulent years of World War II through Hawaii's complex journey to statehood, this mesmerizing story presents a cast of richly imagined characters who rise up magnificent and forceful, redeemed by the spiritual power and the awesome beauty of their islands.
“Compares with Toni Morrison.”— Glamour Beginning with the fateful meeting of a nineteenth-century Yankee sailor and the runaway daughter of a Tahitian chief, and sweeping over a century and a half of passionate, turbulent Hawaiian history, Shark Dialogues takes its place as the first novel to do justice to the rich heritage and cruel conflicts of the beautiful and beleaguered islands and their people. Surreal, provocative, erotic, magical, meaningful, and supremely wise, it is a tale of islanders and invaders, of victors and victims, of queens and whores, of lepers and healers. And at its center are Pono, the magnificent pure-blooded matriarch and seer, and her four mixed-blood granddaughters seeking to come to terms with the contradictions of their ancestries and the hungers of their hearts. Their loves, their hates, the bonds joining them, and the furies possessing them are interwoven with ancient legends and lore of the islands whose past offers their salvation and whose future is their fate. Kiana Davenport has written a major contribution to the literature of the Pacific Rim—a great reading experience both brilliantly contemporary in its form and timeless in its illumination. “A giant, image-fevered, luxuriant saga of a Hawaiian family… powerful, memorable, intoxicating.”— Kirkus Reviews “Complex, resonant… handles the sweep of history and the nuance of the personal equally well… Sensuous.”— San Francisco Chronicle
