Kuleana : A Story of Family, Land, and Legacy in Old Hawai'i

Set in one of the world’s most beautiful landscapes, Kuleana is the story of an award-winning journalist’s desire to hold on to her family’s ancestral Hawaiian lands—and find herself along the way.

“A powerful story of land, belonging, loss, and survival that challenges us all to think about what we are responsible for.” —Rebecca Nagle, bestselling author of By the Fire We Carry

From an early age, Sara Kehaulani Goo has always been enchanted by her family’s land in Hawai’i. The vast area along the rugged shores of Maui’s east side—given by King Kamehameha III in 1848—extends from mountain to sea, encompassing sixty acres of lush, undeveloped rainforest jungle along the rocky coastline, and a massive 16th century temple with a mysterious past.

When a property tax bill arrives with a 500% increase, Sara and her family members are forced to make a decision about the property: fight to keep the land or sell to the next Mainland millionaire. As she returns to Maui and reconnects with her great Uncle Take, she uncovers the story of how much land her family has already lost over generations, sentries-old artifacts from the temple, and the insidious displacement of Native Hawaiians by systemic forces.

Part journalistic offering and part memoir, Kuleana interrogates deeper questions of identity, legacy, and what we owe to those who come before and after us. Sara’s breathtaking story of unexpected homecomings, familial hardship, and fierce devotion to ancestry creates a refreshingly new narrative about Hawai’i, its native people, and their struggle to hold onto their land and culture today.