Finding, and staying, in paradise

There are countless times visiting customers in the bookstore have said they wish they could just stay in the island instead of going back to the sometimes frantic life of the mainland.

Well … Andy Stennett and his family did just that!​

Seventeen years ago, they arrived on Kauai, fell in love with the beauty, the culture, the people, and the spirit of the place, and started a new life’s adventure, eventually landing in their own patch of lush Hawaiian jungle-forest. ​

In “Lost in Hawaii: Our 17-Year Family Vacation”, we get to experience the real-life tale of a family making an extraordinary choice and discovering what awaited them. The predicaments in making such a change naturally bring questions: How do you adapt to an entirely new place? How do you create a new income, a place to live? How do you keep your family engaged in the totally different life that is upon them?​

With humor, zest, and ingenuity, Mr. Stennett weaves a fun tale of his family’s efforts and enduring spirit as they gradually carved out a life for themselves on the Garden Island, culminating into the turning of a wily and unruly plot of land into a providential place to call home.​

The bookstore has had the pleasure of knowing Mr. Stennet for a number of years. Many know him as “The Rooster Guy”, the astute entrepreneur who turned Kauai’s wild chickens into a magnet and greeting card business with clever jokes and humorous pictures of these feathered fowl riding the waves, serving as mayor, and boarding the planes to Kauai.​

If anything, “Lost in Hawaii” is a fun and touching reminder that anything is possible, so long as we act on the opportunities that present themselves to us to find happiness in life.​

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Ed Justus and Cynthia Lynn are owners of The Bookstore in Hanapepe.