Ilima Todd introduces A Song for the Stars, a Shadow Mountain “Proper Romance Historical” novel, set in Hawaii in 1779.
I was born and raised on the north shore of Oahu. My childhood was waiting for the sound of the manapua truck and counting out my pennies to exchange for a pack of haw flakes, or on lucky days a hot and crispy lumpia. It was picking puakenikeni from the front yard to make a lei for an upcoming graduation. It was camping on the beach and trying to collect more tiny white crabs in my bucket than my siblings. Or going to school barefoot. Trying not to cry from a blue bubble sting. Not knowing who my relatives were because everyone was “Aunty.” It was spam and night marchers and shave ice and geckos and the perpetual ring of sand around the shower drain that just never went away.
It wasn’t until I left home for college on the mainland that I discovered how unique—and sheltered—my upbringing was. The embarrassment of seeing a train for the first time and realizing they weren’t just on TV. Not knowing how to navigate when I couldn’t see the ocean for reference. Seasons. Interstates. Deer. Chapstick. People making fun of my accent when I didn’t even know I had one. Or the daily question that took some form of what are you and wondering if the person asking would begin listing ethnic guesses (Egyptian was a favorite) or just start speaking to me in Spanish (this still happens almost weekly). Not only did I learn that my island background was a rare one, but there was also an unfamiliar world that I didn’t realize existed…not to the extent I was experiencing it.
Maybe that’s why the story of my fourth-great grandmother resonated with me so loudly. She was the daughter of a Hawaiian chief, and her island was all she ever knew. When British sailors landed on her shores, she discovered how unique—and sheltered—her upbringing really was, and I wanted to know how she did it. How did she find a way to subsist in this new and overwhelming world she didn’t even know existed? Their language was different. Their clothes were different. Their religion, weapons, food, politics, sailing methods, gender roles, tools—it seemed they had almost nothing in common. Yet not only did their peoples find a way to co-exist, she fell in love with one of them. They married. Had children. Had me. A meeting that started out as a clash eventually settled into a hum, and I wanted to explore how they were able to move from one end of that spectrum to the other. From tragedy to hope. From enemies to friends and eventually lovers.
Writing A SONG FOR THE STARS was a bit surreal for me. It was a story I’d always wanted to write, a family legend I’d known since a young child. But as a science fiction author who wrote for children, I never thought it was a possibility. So when my editors asked if I was interested in writing a historical romance with a British sailor in 18thcentury Hawaii, I knew it wasn’t a coincidence. There was a higher force at work, and the story that had always been hiding inside of me had permission to emerge.
This story is a love letter to my homeland and the language and culture I love so much. It is an ode to my ancestors and a product of the connection I felt to them and my family as I wrote it. It’s a tale of tragedy and forgiveness, of understanding and love. And it’s a journey of self-discovery and identity amid a new and challenging world. It’s my story, and I’ll forever be grateful I had the chance to tell it.
Novel blurb:
As the second daughter of a royal chief, Maile will be permitted to marry for love. Her fiancé is the best navigator in Hawaii, and he taught her everything he knows how to feel the ocean, observe the winds, read the stars, and how to love.
But when sailors from a strange place called England arrive on her island, a misunderstanding ends in battle, and Maile is suddenly widowed before she is wed.
Finding herself in the middle of the battle and fearing for her life, Maile takes John Harbottle, the wounded man who killed her fiancé, prisoner, and though originally intending to let him die, she reluctantly heals him. And in the process, she discovers the man she thought was her enemy might be her ally instead.
John has been Captain James Cook’s translator for three voyages across the Pacific. He is kind and clearly fascinated with her homeland and her people and Maile herself. But guilt continues to drive a wedge between them: John’s guilt over the death he caused, and Maile’s guilt over the truth about what triggered the deadly battle a secret she’s kept hidden from everyone on the island.
When Maile is tasked with teaching John how to navigate using the stars so he can sail back to England, they must also navigate the challenges of being from very different cultures. In doing so, they might also find the peace that comes when two hearts become one.
Ilima Todd was born and raised on the north shore of Oahu and dives for octopus with her dad every time she visits otherwise she’s diving into books in the Rocky Mountains where she lives with her husband and four children. She graduated from BYU with a degree in physics and eats copious amounts of raw fish and avocados without regret. But mostly she loves being a wife and mama and wouldn’t trade that job for anything in the world. Her first two novels were the YA dystopia duology, Remake and Resist.