Sharks in the Time of Saviours - Kawai Strong Washburn

In his beautifully crafted debut novel Sharks in the Time of Saviors, Kawai Strong Washburn - a native of Hawaii now living in the mainland U.S. - mixes magic and ancient legends with reality to create a poignant picture of modern Hawaii. The novel spans from 1995 to 2009 and follows the Flores family living in Hawaii and navigating through economic hardships. Family members take turns in recounting their story and that of the island and its myths - both ancient and modern. A myth about the mainland as a land of opportunity and of Hawaii as a paradise on Earth serving as respite from the daily life for the mainland Americans. The pages of the novel fly by as we are confronted with the questions of how we find and create meaning and how we are shaped by the places we are connected to.

A powerful debut novel that blends Hawaiian myth with the broken American dream.

At seven years old, Nainoa falls into the sea and a shark takes him in its jaws – only to return him, unharmed, to his parents. For the next thirty years Noa and his siblings struggle with life in the shadow of this miracle.

Sharks in the Time of Saviours is a brilliantly original and inventive novel, the sweeping story of a family living in poverty among the remnants of Hawai‘i’s mythic past and the wreckage of the American dream.

WINNER OF THE PEN/HEMINGWAY AWARD FOR DEBUT NOVEL and SHORTLISTED FOR THE KITSCHIES GOLD TENTACLE AWARD
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR in the NEW YORK TIMES, GUARDIAN, IRISH TIMES, OPRAH MAGAZINE and BBC CULTURE

The novel you never knew you were waiting for. Old myths clash with new realities, love is in a ride or die with grief, faith rubs hard against magic, and comic flips with tragic so much they meld into something new. All told with daredevil lyricism to burn. A ferocious debut”
MARLON JAMES

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