Song of the Exile

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. 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.

In the last, innocent days before Pearl Harbor, two people meet in Honolulu almost by chance: Keo, a gifted jazz trumpeter native to the islands, and Sunny, a fiercely independent beauty of Hawaiian and Korean heritage. As their love grows, youth and ambition propel them out into a world that is spiraling into madness.

Keo's music takes him from the back alleys of Honolulu to the hidden jazz clubs of New Orleans--and, ultimately, to the fevered decadence of pre-war Paris, where Sunny joins him, even as the Nazis prepare to march into the doomed city. Caught in the tides of history, the lovers flee separately to the seething chaos of Shanghai, where Sunny searches for the sister she has never known. Captured by the Japanese, Sunny descends into a place of unimagined horror and violation. Keo mounts a desperate campaign to find her--a heroic effort that becomes his destiny.

From the turbulent years of World War II through Hawaii's complex journey to statehood, this extraordinary novel sheds a searing light on the unspoken fate that befell thousands of women during this dark time in history. The result is a bold narrative of unforgettable characters who rise up magnificent and forceful, redeemed by the spiritual power and the awesome beauty of their islands. As haunting as a trumpet's final soaring note, Song of the Exile is a mesmerizing story of music and myth, tragedy and triumph, survival and transcendence.