This is a mystery set on Hawaii in 1944. Unlike Ackerman’s other novels about WWII, it focuses more on domestic life during wartime. It is about Violet, a school teacher, and her daughter Ella.

Violet and her friends bake pies to sell to the soldiers on the island, and share their worries about their loved ones -- including (but not limited to!) Violet’s husband, who disappeared a year ago, and Ella, who has been fiercely reluctant to leave her mother’s side ever since.

This has a wonderfully strong sense of place, of a multi-cultural community, and of friendship. The mystery was compelling. I liked how the story is told from mother Violet and Ella’s perspectives, and how Ella’s chapters portray a child’s perspective and yet simultaneously establish Ella as her own person (and not just as someone her mother worries over).

Last night after talking with Setsuko, she had tried counting convoy trucks to help her fall asleep. That hadn’t worked. Jean said maybe it was the grape juice cans rolled in her hair that caused the insomnia, but Violet suspected it was more likely from thinking about things over and over. And over. There were so many layers to her grief. While Ella had a perpetual stomachache, Violet was prone to a perpetual heartache.

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The story is set on the Big Island of Hawaii during WWII, when anit-Japanese sentiment is running high and whites are also greeted with suspicion. Violet's husband disappeared, and daughter Ella knows something about it, but she's not telling. The Japanese family's school is shut down and the husband interred. And the military sets up a training camp nearby, for the soldiers that will be sent to the Pacific. Since Pearl Harbor had been bombed, there was a lot of fear that the Big Island could be next. And Violet needs to do something to earn some money with her husband gone, so she comes up with the idea of baking sweet pies and setting up a stand right outside the military base on Saturdays. ( )

Island of Sweet Pies and Soldiers, by Sara Ackerman, is set during World War II, shortly after Pearl Harbor, when anti-Japanese sentiment was at its height. The story focused in alternating sections on a mainlander schoolteacher and her daughter, but their ohana includes another teacher, boarding with them, their Japanese neighbors, the soldiers stationed nearby, and more. The women start a pie stand for the local soldiers, and despite the serious themes, this book will definitely make you hungry for Hawaiian fusion food. ( )

Once upon a time, Violet's world was turned upside down not once but thrice. First, she was swept off her feet by Herman, a man of good standing and noble intentions, whisked away to the islands, and a life was built around the friendship turned more with Ella as the wonderful "byproduct" of their home grown love. The second time was when that same said stalwart figure in her life...disappeared without a trace...and the only one who knows something isn't talking. So, who's playing mum? That'd be Ella, but despite KNOWING she's holding something back, she doesn't have proof nor the desire to disrupt her daughter's life any more than it has been already, so she buries the speculations, covers the uncertainties, and tries to move on with some semblance of normalcy while still humbly searching for answers. The thrice world rocking event was a bit more complicated...

This mile marker involved more than a moment, but ultimately life changing and far reaching events. Violet's heart was reawakened by truth, tragedy, and a sweet second chance romance that reminds her that life is for the living, the past belongs in the past, but neither one says we need to leave behind those we love. We could feel her pain for all that happened, but as much as it was about her, little Ella (such a sweet, strong, and wonderful young lady!), and what may be, it was also about the stories of all those surrounding them during some of our nation's darker times. WWII wasn't for the faint of heart, and discrimination and prejudice are nothing new (then or now) in every day life let alone times of war, but seeing it from the battlefields is one thing, seeing it from the families is another.

All in all, though I wobbled between fascinated and merely interested as I was reading, by book's end I found the story making room for itself in my heart. Getting to know Ella and Violet, Roscoe and Parker, Jean and Setsuko, and all the others, will warm your heart, and remind you that family is more than blood, but those you choose to hold close and never let go.


**copy received for review ( )

Enjoyable story set on the Big Island of Hawaii during World War II. I liked main character Violet and her young daughter Ella, who are struggling to get by after the disappearance of Violet's husband one year ago. Violet thinks Ella may know something about what happened, but Ella's not talking. I enjoyed Violet's group of friends who really supported her and each other during tough times. Also really liked the soldiers who were training on the island and became regular visitors to Violet's and her friend's house. Roscoe the lion was an interesting addition, as well. And I absolutely loved the Big Island setting and the time period of WWII. There's mystery and romance in this interesting and entertaining read. ( )