Describing the life of a fictitious Samoan village through the eyes of an adolescent girl, each poised between the past and the future, Sia Figiel’s Where We Once Belonged uses lyrical and dreamlike prose to evoke a traditional form of story-telling.

The Smell of the Moon by American Samoan novelist Lemanatele Mark Kneubuhl, celebrates a return to a family and a community, in which a quest for one’s origins is both joyous and difficult.

A collection of academic essays which explore the meaning of home and the effect of dominant societies on indigenous ones, Home: Here to Stay is edited by Marilyn McPherson, Linitā Manuʻatu and Mere Kēpa.

Connected by the literal and metaphoric juxtaposition of cold and heat, the collection of stories in Black Ice Matter by Gina Cole are often dark portrayals of contemporary life in the South Pacific.The powerful relationship between a mother and daughter is the subject of the novel Frangipani by Célestine Hitiura Vaite, set in Tahiti.Displaced Leila sets out to discover her heritage in Telesa: The Covenant Keeper by Lani Wendt Young, finding herself embraced by a powerful sisterhood of elemental guardians it’s the beginning of a contemporary YA series which incorporates ancient Pacific mythology.Out of the Vaipe, the Deadwater: A Writer’s Early Life is a memoir which examines the way Wendt’s personal history has shaped his writing life.

Ancestry is a collection of short stories by Albert Wendt which explores the nature of family, tradition and culture through the eyes of those seemingly caught between the realities of modern contemporary life and the ancestral ties of their heritage.

The Beats of the Pa‘u carry narratives of culture to Cook Islanders far from home, living to a different beat in New Zealand, in the collection of linked short stories by Maria Samuela.

I hope there’s something in this list that appeals and is new to you. I am interested in books or stories by Pasifika writers about cultural identity, family ties and history. I would love to receive a personalised reading list. Send us your questions for her by emailing: week, Louise answers a reader request: The complete Reading Doctor lists for 2021 The complete Reading Doctor lists for 2020 Kia ora and welcome to the Reading Doctor! Each week, literary critic and devoted reader Dr Louise recommends books to us on a particular theme, or responds to reader questions.