Tahitian Destiny

Rating:
Summary: TAHITIAN DESTINY a must read!
Review: Imagine the result had grade school classmates James Michener and Margaret Mead teamed up to write a tale about Tahiti. The two Doylestown, Pennsylvania natives would probably have combined their knowledge of mythology, native rites (from both sides of the world), with a story about love, family, denial, and vengeance of Gods and mortals to produce a compelling novel. Nearly sixty years after Michener and Mead became world famous for their exploits in the South Pacific, another native of Bucks County has produced a novel that likely would win praise from James and Margaret.

Julie Eberhart Painter, who attended the same high school as did Michener and Mead, has written a love story that draws upon myth, history, legend, and desire. TAHITIAN DESTINY is about Laura, who grows up in Doylestown, an adopted child who does not learn about her real parents until she's fully grown. What she learns is difficult for her to comprehend because she is the direct descendent of the lovely Kura, a Tahitian princess. It was Kura who defied the gods by falling in love with Captain James Cook's cabin boy, Justin Adams, whose affair resulted in the birth of a daughter, Iaone.

When Laura goes to Tahiti to confirm her real identity and link with her ancestors, she meets an Englishman, Ian, who is a journalist. Ian is on his own search for his ancestors. It is not long before Laura meets her real father, a descendant of the Polynesian navigators. Moreover, upon entering sacred areas of the island, Laura and Kura at times become inseparable.

It is almost willed by the gods that Ian and Laura fall in love, but the gods have their own way of complicating their relationship.

TAHITIAN DESTINY is a captivating read. I highly recommend it.