Hanya Yanagihara - The People in the Trees

E : Yes, or general greeting (hello, good morning, etc.)

Ea : Look (used as a command)

Eke : Animal

Eva : What is it?

Hawana : Many

He : I am (precedes an adjective)

Ho’oala : White man

Ka’aka’a : A now outlawed medicinal practice

Kanava : A tree; relation of the manama. Home of the vuaka

Ke : What? (Used as a response)

Lawa’a : A large fern resembling a Monstera

Lili’aka : Literally, “small sun”; equivalent to our summer and considered the most pleasant season (100 days)

Lili’ika : The Ivu’ivuan siesta; begins directly after the midday meal and lasts through most of the afternoon. On U’ivu, lili’ika was banned by King Tuima’ele in 1930, under the missionaries’ influence.

Lili’uaka : Literally, “small rain,” equivalent to our spring (100 days)

Ma : When preceding a word and followed by a glottal stop, an honorific (see below). Literally means “my” or “mine.”

Ma’alamakina : The traditional U’ivuan spear all males are given upon reaching fourteen o’anas

Makava : A tree that used to grow on U’ivu and now mostly grows on Ivu’ivu

Male’e : Hut

Manama : A tree with an edible fruit resembling a mango

Moa : Food

Mo’o : Without

No’aka : A coconutlike fruit; its shells are used as bowls by the islanders; more commonly known on U’ivu as uka moa , or “hog food”

O’ana : The U’ivuan year; 400 days

Ola’alu : The prehistoric U’ivuan hieroglyphic alphabet; rarely used in modern times

Tava : A cloth resembling kapa made from pounding palm leaves into a fiber

U’aka : The hottest season, equivalent to our autumn (100 days)

‘Uaka : The traditional wet season, equivalent to our winter; lasts for 100 days

Uka : Hog

Umaku : Sloth fat; used as a lubricant and a polish

Vuaka : A primitive micromonkey; considered a delicacy. Hunted to near extinction on U’ivu

My great thanks to Norman Hindley and Robert E. Hosmer for their early faith; to Fundacion Valparaiso and the New York Foundation for the Arts for their gifts of time and money; to Kaja Perina for her wit and good name; to David Ebershoff for his counsel and forbearance; to John McElwee for his humor and assistance; to Ravi Mirchandani for his charm and passion; to Jim Baker, Klara Glowczewska, and — especially — Kerry Lauerman for being delighted for me (even when I didn’t know how to be); and to Stephen Morrison for his comfort, constancy, excellent matchmaking skills, and beloved friendship.

I am so very grateful to everyone at Doubleday for their enthusiasm and care, in particular to Bill Thomas, to the smart, soothing, and hypercompetent Hannah Wood, and, most of all, to Gerry Howard for his advocacy and large-spiritedness, and for being the kind of editor who offers his engagement and intelligence with such grace and selflessness.

To the lovely and steadfast Anna Stein O’Sullivan, who believed from the start and whose opinion and advice I always treasure, my forever gratitude, respect, and affection. To Andrew Kidd, who saved me at a crucial moment and without whose brilliant editorial discernment and enduring support I would have been lost, my profound thanks.

I owe everything to Jared Hohlt, my first and favorite reader (and all-around superior human being), for his kindness, intelligence, patience, wisdom, and dear presence — but I hope he’ll settle for my inexpressible and unquantifiable love, thanks, trust, and apologies. Everyone should be so lucky to have such a friend.

And, finally, for all the qualities and generosities listed above, as well as their irreverence and taste, my deepest thanks to my parents, Ron and Susan. My father, in particular, has not only always encouraged but often abetted my every confabulation. For that, and for many other reasons besides, this book is dedicated to him.

Hanya Yanagihara lives in New York City.

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