"Her name is Materena Mahi, and she's the best listener in Tahiti. Materena starts her new job as a professional cleaner at the same time she becomes the mother of her beautiful baby girl. Leilani is a challenge almost from the start, posing questions ("Why doesn't it snow in Tahiti?") that seem to Materena not worth wondering about. What matters to Materena is passing along her own special wisdom: "Always keep a breadfruit tree in your backyard. That way you'll never go hungry." "To get rid of unwanted guests without hurting their feelings, broom around their feet." "Avoid foreigners at all costs. Foreigners eat raw fish with salad dressing." Everyone around Materena seems to admire her cleverness and generosity, her appreciation of Tahitian tradition - everyone except perhaps Leilani, who has her own ideas about love, family, and island ways."

Bought this at a clearance sale for the geographical challenge.

This was a surprisingly delightful read and I now want to read Vaite's two other books. I loved the way she described Tahitian life - and the lives and thoughts of women in particular. It is always so interesting to read about other cultures.

Counts as French Polynesia in the Geographical Challenge.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Surprise RABCK to a bookcrossing friend. Happy reading!

Ooh, thank you! Lovely surprise - I am sure I'll like this ( we do have quite a similar taste of books, don't we?), thanks Annimanni!

Delightful book, so full of warmth and colour! I like to read book about mothers and daughters, and women in general, and life in Tahiti was interesting and new thing for me. I'd love to read more Vaite's books.

Now reserving this for a special purpose.

Avl now.

Sending to lunatum next week!

The book arrived today, thank you! I have a huge mount to be read, so it will take some time...

When I picked this book up, I noticed that I've already read this in Finnish. Sorry for keeping the book this long and then not reading it. We'll see, how the book will continue it's journey.