Hello everybody, how are you? Welcome to the program. This is The Other People Show. I'm Brad Listy. I'm your host. I'm in Los Angeles. Thank you for listening wherever you are. I hope you're doing okay. And I hope you will subscribe to the program wherever you listen.

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So my guest today is Jasmine Iolani Haik's author of the debut novel entitled Hula.

There wasn't any really kind of cultural rule book that I could follow for the protocol of how to launch a book like this, or not that I know of anyway. And so it was just kind of feeling my way in the dark and trying my hardest to remember all that I've been taught and all of what I know of my home and having this add to the efforts to make our home a vibrant, viable place that is honored and respected and understood.

All right, that was Jasmine Iolani Hakes. Her debut novel is called Hula, available now in a beautiful hardcover edition from Harper Via. Hula is a

sweeping family saga. It is a story about tradition, dance, identity, culture, history,

destiny. And ultimately it is a story about family and women in particular.

Three generations of women in Hawaii.

It's a story about mothers and daughters.

It is set in the town of Hilo on the Big Island,

and it centers on a young girl named Hei,

who is part of the Naupaka family, which has a storied legacy on the island and in Hilo,

and is renowned for its contributions to the Hula tradition.

But there are mysteries to sort out regarding Hei's identity.

She doesn't know her father or who he is.

Her mother has not told her.

There are family divisions and tensions.

And in hula dancing, Hei sees an opportunity to heal her family and to find her

identity and to carry on the legacy of the Nalpacas by winning the next Miss Aloha Hula

...