KALIHIWAI — How are you managing your hunger, bookworm? Are you in need of a good summer read? Local author Mika Ashley-Hollinger has just what you need, hot off the press. On May 8, Random House released “Precious Bones,” and
KALIHIWAI — How are you managing your hunger, bookworm? Are you in need of a good summer read? Local author Mika Ashley-Hollinger has just what you need, hot off the press.
On May 8, Random House released “Precious Bones,” and in less than two months, Ashley-Hollinger’s first novel has already swept several good reviews on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles.
Ashley-Hollinger grew up in the Florida swamps, but traded the Sunshine State for the Aloha State about 40 years ago, and in 1984 she settled on Kaua‘i. When she visited her old stomping grounds years ago in Florida, she said she found almost everything gone due to progress.
“They pretty much paved paradise and put up a parking lot,” said Ashley-Hollinger, adding that after seeing so many drastic changes in such a short time, she wanted people to remember what an amazing place the Florida swamp was.
“Precious Bones” is set in the Florida swamps in 1949. The book’s main character is Bones, a 10-year-old girl set to clean up her father’s name after two bodies are found on her family’s property.
“Kids from 8 to 80 years old can read and understand it,” Ashley-Hollinger said. “We have to protect what we have now.”
Besides resurfacing a setting long gone in Florida, Ashley-Hollinger’s novel dives deep into the lives of the people and the society of more than 60 years ago, thanks to an extensive and intensive research that went along with writing this book.
She calls her novel a “young adult historical fiction” — and that’s just what it is. Ashley-Hollinger’s description of her novel should be taken word by word rather than as a collective: It’s suitable for youth, for adults, it’s a historical account and it’s fiction.
But imagination is almost always tied to one’s own experiences. The majority of the characters in “Precious Bones” were inspired by Ashley-Hollinger’s experiences and interactions throughout her life.
She jokingly said that as soon as her book came out, she received an avalanche of calls from friends trying to guess which character they had inspired.
“It’s all fiction,” she said, laughing and terribly unconvincing.
Ashley-Hollinger, however, blatantly admits that at least one character in the book existed in real life, and had the same name.
Nippy was a free-spirited raccoon that Ashley-Hollinger raised after finding him as a baby. She still remembers nursing Nippy with a bottle, and his tiny hands grabbing it just like a human’s would.
As he grew older, Nippy would disappear for months at a time but would always come home and hang out with his adopted mom.
Nippy lived to be more than 10 years old, and is now immortalized in the novel as Bones’ pet.
All the other pets that Bones has in the book, including a pig, Ashley-Hollinger had as a child, she said.
“I had a very fortunate childhood,” she said. “This book is just part of sharing that.”
Visit www.mikaashleyhollinger.com to purchase the book and find out more about the author, who may have left the swamps of the East Coast, but would not stay away from the water.
Today, Ashley-Hollinger lives on a secluded property by the banks of a river on Kaua‘i’s North Shore.
“Precious Bones” is also for sale at the Indie Bound, Amazon and Barnes & Noble websites.
