Tattooing Sina: The Battle to Save Samoa's Treasure Island - Paperback

by Moneka Tupua Knight (Author)

This inspiring book explores the lives of the women in the Samoan Women's Mau resistance movement and the warriors who fought against the New

Zealand colonisers to achieve Samoa's independence.

Sina's tattoo, the malu is a rite of passage she endures after the death of the grandmother, the village healer. As the taupou, or ceremonial virgin of her

village, the sacred symbols inked onto her skin allow her to perform at the kava ceremonies. But when the missionaries discover it, she is expelled from

school and her father, a high chief, is ordered to pay a hefty fine.

To help pay the fine, Sina works at Vailima for Fanny Stevenson, wife of famed Scottish author Robert Louis Stevenson. Fanny had her own literary

ambitions, but she faces criticism from her husband's London literary circle that she is sabotaging his career by moving to Samoa. She is haunted by

rumours she forced him to burn the draft of his novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, which he wrote in a cocaine-induced fury. She claims to be his most influential critic, muse and collaborator. She says the Samoan climate will heal his sickness and save his life. As their islander life unfolds, they could never have predicted the significant role they would played in Samoan politics.

At Vailima, Sina become politically active and develops her gift for writing. After her Uncle Tupua Tamasese Lealofi III the leader of the Mau is assassinated, the men are forced into hiding from the New Zealanders.

Sina and other female warriors take over the battle and create the Women's Mau resistance movement. She draws on the spirit and guidance of her ancestors, Queen Salamasina, Samoa's most powerful ruler, and Nafanua the Goddess of War. The Women's Mau becomes the key to Samoa achieving independence.

A powerful story of cultural pride and women's resistance.