Fiction. Sia Figiel is the first contemporary woman novelist from Samoa. Her first book, WHERE WE ONCE BELONGED won the 1997 Commonwealth Writer's Prize for Best First Book and has been translated into several European languages. In the sequel, THEY WHO DO NOT GRIEVE, Sia Figiel's powerful poetic skills weave together the voices of three generations of women from two families in Samoa and New Zealand. Their fates indeliably joined by betrayal and an unfinished tattoo, Lalolagi and Tausi pass along a complex legacy of stories, secrets, and courage to their granddaughters, Malu and Alofa. This link invokes the mythic twin sisters who originally brought the tattoo custom to Samoa as they navigate a society that threatens their self-determination as Samoans and as women.
