Eve Sorenson is already grieving her parents' deaths, her divorce and her teen son's choice to live with his dad, when she's placed on administrative leave from her teaching position. The school district is investigating a complaint from an unruly child's politically active parents, and the school principal believes Eve needs a break. She sells the family home on the shores of Puget Sound, puts her possessions in storage and moves to Kailua on Windward Oah`u, where her Aunt Meg, a Hawai`i resident for 30 years, is having some health issues. Meg sees the events in in Eve's life as a divine plan sent by the gods. Eve can leave her mainland sorrows behind, bask in the sun and swim with turtles in the sea. When time allows. Meg's house and rental bungalow need some repairs. She's just moved to a retirement complex and expects Eve to help her get settled.
On her first full day in the islands, Eve is on Kailua Beach to greet sunrise, when she hears her dad's voice in her head telling her to go to Lyon Arboretum. "Go now," his voice says, and she does.
She's in the arboretum Rain Shelter, sorting thoughts about her dad, when an insistent dog interrupts her, plants muddy paw prints on her T-shirt and leads her to the hidden ravine where a Hawaiian man hovers near death. While she ministers to the man, two apparitions form and dissolve at his feet. Hawaiian myth tells of spirits returning to a body not ready to die, but two is one too many and one appears to be her dad.
The Hawaiian man is Noa Kala`i, Ph.D, University of Hawai`i ethnobotanist, retired and a resident of the independent living facility where Meg is living. Eve visits Meg there daily for lunch, and becomes acquainted with Noa. In time, she helps him get his papers and research written in publishable form. He helps her cope with Meg and teaches her about native plants and Hawaiian history.
Meg grows jealous of Eve's interest in Noa and urges Eve to take one of three young men who enter her life as her lover. Sean, an Asian-Hawaiian protege of Noa's, says their auras brought Noa and Eve together. He's the man she met during Noa's rescue. Keoki, a close friend of Noa's, works for security at Meg and Noa's building. He's a Hawaiian chanter whose grand-mother is a natural healer who will prepare plant medicines for Meg. Ike is a young construction worker and part of a crew who works on Meg's old house.
At a gathering in Meg's home during refurbishing, Keoki, who considers himself an ancient, declares someone died in the island room. To Eve's surprise, all the locals respect Keoki's belief that a spirit is trapped and attend a ceremony for its release.
Noa has a brief hospitalization that brings his daughter from California and his son from the Pacific Northwest. Daniel resembles Noa. Eve is attracted to him but committed to remaining in Hawai`i, though she longs for her Pacific Northwest life.
Meg, an aging Aphrodite who has taken and shed lovers, dictates her memoirs to Eve, who is staid and serious.
Rain Shelters is a story about the strength of one woman's spirit as she examines life, love, loss and death, and chooses to live. It captures the Hawaiian mystique, and lets Eve discover how her personal loss mirrors that of the native Hawaiian culture, currently struggling for sovereignty or nation within a nation status. It is not a ghost story.
