That Which Feeds Us: a Hawaiian Gothic

A native Hawaiian teen travels to a luxury island resort in search of her missing twin and uncovers the dark side of paradise, in this YA supernatural thriller that’s Mexican Gothic meets She is a Haunting.

 

“This astounding book is both a finger pointed directly at the rotting heart of colonial greed and a truly heart-pounding mystery.” — Andrew Joseph White, New York Times bestselling author of Compound Fracture

 

For the world’s wealthiest, Kōpaʻa Island Resort is more than a destination. It’s the ultimate escape. With no cell service or Wi-Fi, the Hawaiian island is a coveted wellness retreat renowned for its persimmon orchard and promises of rejuvenation.

 

But their dream vacation is Lehua’s nightmare. When her twin sister, Ohia, goes missing, Lehua follows her trail to Kōpaʻa to find her. Instead, Lehua is cut off from civilization—and help—after the island’s boat leaves without her, stranding her with the resort’s lavish guests and enigmatic staff.

 

As Lehua investigates Ohia’s disappearance, she discovers her missing sister isn’t the island’s only mystery. Kōpaʻa’s rich exterior and sweet persimmons hide its dark plantation past. And Lehua can’t ignore the dreams haunting her each night—nor the warning telling her to leave the island at once. To uncover what happened to Ohia, Lehua will have to unearth the island’s bloody history and face the horrors that lurk within its sugarcane fields—or risk being consumed by them.

 

Sharply observed and gorgeously written, That Which Feeds Us explores the true cost of paradise as Lehua must fight to reclaim the land, the stories, and the very souls of her people.

Additional information

Classification

Fiction

Genre

Horror

Age

Young Adult

Publisher

Penguin Random House

Imprint

Random House Children's Books

Language(s)

English

Format(s)

Hardcover

Author

Keala Kendall

Release Date

26-May-26

Release Month

May Releases

Author Identity

BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, Neurodivergent

Content Rep

BIPOC, LGBTQIA+

About the Author

Keala Kendall is the Native Hawaiian author of How Far I’ll Go and No One Gets Left Behind (Fall 2026), writing for Disney’s New York Times bestselling A Twisted Tale series, and the forthcoming YA horror novel That Which Feeds Us: a Hawaiian Gothic (Summer 2026), and a cofounder of Pacific Islanders in Publishing.

 

Born in Hawaiʻi, she now lives as a part of the Hawaiian diaspora in Los Angeles with her partner and their dog, Mele. She is represented by Jennifer March Soloway at Andrea Brown Literary Agency.

 

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