Hawaii is the "Paradise of the Pacific," and the princess referred to in the title of this book was the girl who became Queen Liliuokalani, the reigning monarch of Hawaii and the composer of the haunting song, "Aloha Oe." In her seventy-nine years of life, she saw her island paradise struggle through many a crisis and, at last, become part of the United States of America.

In this novel based on history, Eloise Engle tells of Liliuokalani's girlhood, when the ways of the old Hawaii first were threatened and the ruling families began to disappear. Her ancestors had been poets in the ancient royal courts. But now the carefree island life that they had been used to came into conflict with the demands and the worries of modern times. Both were mirrored in Liliuokalani's own drama, which makes a story that will entrance today's readers.

From the dust jacket