The Volcano Keeper

By: Sara Ackerman

After a tragedy in the field, volcanologist Alana Hollinger arrives on Hawai‘i Island in 1984, still carrying the weight of her loss. Reluctantly returning to the dangers of fieldwork, she hopes to find the courage to walk in the shadow of a volcano again. But the ground beneath her feet feels anything but steady. As tremors stir beneath Kilauea, Alana suspects the mountain is waking—and that her warnings of an impending eruption are being ignored. Again.

But Alana has another reason for coming to Volcano. Forty-two years earlier, her grandmother vanished during a wartime “secret” eruption of nearby Mauna Loa, leaving a trail of questions that still haunt her family. Settling into her grandmother’s old house tucked away in Volcano Village, Alana begins to unearth a past that refuses to stay buried.

Her neighbor Cole Winslow, a widowed consultant at a nearby military installation, carries his own guarded truths about Mauna Loa and what it hides. As her bond with Cole and his two children deepens, Alana must navigate desire, suspicion, and the looming threat of the volcano itself.

Propulsive and spellbinding, The Volcano Keeper is the unforgettable story of a woman determined to uncover the secrets of her family and the island she calls home—before they are lost forever.