How was writing Daughter of Moloka'i different from writing the first book? I began to see this not as a sequel per se, but as a companion or parallel tale that serves as a complement to Moloka'i: together they form one large, overarching, interconnected story. It was actually quite a satisfying process, filling in those blank spaces of Ruth's past with people, places, and animals. The first dialogue I wrote for Rachel was an extension of a scene in Moloka'i, and she just popped out onto the page, casually continuing a conversation begun years earlier.įor Ruth I had to engage in a bit of reverse-engineering, figuring out from her adult self what kind of child she had been, the childhood and life experiences that had shaped her into the person we met in the first book. I did reread Moloka'i-for the first time since I'd corrected proofs back in 2002-to reacquaint myself with key parts of Rachel's life and to listen again to her voice and to that of the adult Ruth. When I wrote the first line for Sister Catherine in the prologue, I slipped back into her voice as if no time at all had passed. Quite the opposite I think they'd been inside my head all along, waiting for the opportunity to tell the rest of their story. Was it difficult revisiting characters you'd written over a decade ago? Two and a half years later, with substantial help in shaping the story from Molly and my editors, Hope Dellon and Elisabeth Dyssegaard, the structure I first envisioned remains. Well, I don't need to be hit on the head with an idea a third time! After some initial thought I began to see a perfect three-act structure to Ruth's life: her childhood in Honolulu and California her internment during World War II and the final third of the novel, Ruth's meeting with Rachel and her 22-year relationship with her birth mother, which had only been alluded to in Moloka'i. Two books and a decade later, I was talking to my brilliant agent, Molly Friedrich, about an idea I had for another novel when she said, "You know what you should write? You should tell Ruth's story," and argued that there was potentially a powerful story there to be told. Not long after Moloka'i was published, I was speaking to a book club when one of its members asked me, "Have you ever considered telling Ruth's story?" I had not, and though I found the idea intriguing, so soon after Moloka'i I was ready to move on to other subjects. What inspired you to write a sequel to Moloka'i? In three separate interviews Alan Brennert talks about Moloka'i, set in a leper colony in early 20th century Hawai'i Honolulu, which follows the life of a young "picture bride" who arrives in Hawai'i in 1914 and Daughter of Moloka'i, the 2019 sequel to his debut.Ī Conversation with Alan Brennert about Daughter of Moloka'i
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