The Lantern Keepers of Liminal Bay

Seventeen-year-old Kaipo Reyes breathes the salt-laced fog of Liminal Bay, a constant reminder of the unseen currents that claimed his fisherman father and left him adrift in grief.  Now, the legacy of his father — keeper of the island’s ancient lighthouse — feels like an anchor, not a lifeline.  Because Liminal Bay whispers secrets.  It’s a thin place where the veil between worlds shimmers, and the lighthouse isn’t just a beacon—it’s a gateway.
Haunted by spectral figures, sun-weathered faces whispering tales of perilous voyages and the bittersweet tang of new beginnings, Kaipo’s fear gives way to awe.  These aren’t ghosts, but his ancestors, spirits drawn to the lantern’s glow, echoing the arduous migrations across the Pacific.  He’s not alone in his grief, or in his struggle to embrace his burgeoning queer identity in the island’s judgmental community.  He finds an unlikely ally in Elisabetta Nakamura, whose sharp wit and family history of fleeing post-war Korea resonate with Kaipo’s own sense of displacement.
But their shared solace is shattered by the arrival of Mr. Ito, the chillingly polite CEO of the Horizon Corporation.  Ito’s plan to build a luxury resort isn’t just development—it’s desecration, a severing of the island’s spiritual connection with untold consequences. As bulldozers loom, Kaipo and Elisabetta must decipher spectral messages and unlock the lighthouse’s deepest secrets — a hidden chamber, a lost artifact, a history of entangled fates linking their Filipino, Hawaiian, Japanese, and Korean ancestors.
Their investigation unearths a hidden history of “picture brides” and immigrant laborers whose hopes and dreams now infuse the lantern’s glow. Their bond deepens amidst the growing danger, the line between friendship and something more blurring as they uncover a wartime connection between their families, a shared history of courage and kindness in the face of adversity.
But betrayals lurk, echoing through time.  A connection between Ito and a resistant fisherman, Old Man Hemmings, forces Kaipo and Elisabetta to question who they can trust as they uncover hidden agendas and face their own inner demons.  Kaipo confronts his father’s hidden flaws, while Elisabetta grapples with inherited trauma.