Stretching from the 1820s to the 1970s, this novel tells a sweeping story anchored by the matriarchs of two interconnected families in Oceania. The prologue, titled “Three Dreams of Grandmother,” introduces motifs that recur throughout: trees, song, water, the kingfisher bird. These images are the family inheritance and take on meaning only as the story unfolds. The novel begins in England in 1824 with the newly orphaned Hannah deciding to take the leap of becoming a missionary’s wife. She and William Greenwood marry and voyage to Tahiti. Meanwhile, Felesina ventures into the Samoan underworld for a sacred tree that will ensure the posterity of her family. She does so to cover a family debt: Her daughter is pregnant and marrying a white man. Felesina needs the tree to turn into heirlooms. As she makes her way to the forest, Felesina is ominously reminded that the obligation “is threefold,” cementing the seriousness of the debt. Family dynamics are complex—many of the characters share names that have been inherited, creating a sense that the past is repeating. Magic is present but subtle: evident in a character’s seeming agelessness, ability to transcend language, or ability to predict the future. Dreams and aitu—the Samoan term for ghosts—are the primary connectors among the generations. The novel ultimately reads too much like a genealogy, dry and heavy on exposition, despite the magical elements.