UNLUCKY STAR is the captivating story of Princess Victoria Lunalilio Kaiulani, Hawaii's last princess. The niece of Queen Liliuokalani, Kaiulani died of a broken heart at the tender age of 23. In a letter to one of her many suitors, an English Count, she grieved, "I must have been born under an unlucky star, as I seem to have my life planned out for me in such a way that I cannot alter it."
This historical novel was set in motion more than 30 years ago when I was teaching voice in Hawaii. At the end of a very long week, I visited a bookstore in Sea Life Park and saw an arresting portrait of this beautiful but tragically sad young woman. My 18 years of research took me to rare book libraries to mine more than 250 books, pamphlets, translations and histories from all over the world.
The haunting quality that enticed me to imagine and uncover the truth about Kaiulani's life will draw readers to engage with this fascinating but little known period of American history and the devastating effects of worldwide imperialism in the 1870s-1900s. From the evils of "Manifest Destiny" to the tragic perspective of a gentle island people caught up in an explosive struggle for justice, UNLUCKY STAR recalls a magical time of great turmoil. And tells of the cruel devastation of the native Hawaiian people, who, in less than 100 years following the stormy arrival of Western Culture, went from 4 million to only 40,00 left.
