Rainforest Pu‘uhonua

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 Pu‘uhonua is her eloquent and moving memoir of cultural awakening amid the plants and ferns, birds and insects, mist and fires of old Hawai‘i. Wight’s rhythmic prose and gift for mo‘olelo – or story, along with exquisite paintings by local artists, convey the depth and magic of the east Hawai‘i bioregion, bringing ancestral stories to life.