Description
Set in Hawai‘i at the end of the nineteenth century, this sweeping narrative poem follows a government campaign to isolate people suspected of having leprosy—and one small family’s fierce determination to resist being taken. Drawing on the history of the Ko‘olau family and the broader suffering of Native Hawaiians, the work explores colonial power, disease, exile, cultural survival, and the bonds of family and community. Written in richly lyrical, formally inventive verse, it transforms historical memory into a haunting meditation on resistance, compassion, and the human cost of oppression.
Available Editions
paperback
Knopf
Published Jan 1, 1998
331 pages
ISBN: 0375401482
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Details
First Published
1998
Language
eng
Content Warnings
Content and trigger warnings for The Folding Cliffs by W. S. Merwin.