CURSE OF NAKAA
The Land of Matang
Book Two
Drawing on the true history, legends and oral traditions of Banaba (Ocean Island), the Land of Matang series weaves the Pacific's untold past into unforgettable fiction. From the arrival of the first phosphate ships to the survival of a people who refused to be erased, these are stories born from more than thirty years of research — and a lifetime's connection to the Banaban people. Inspired by real events. Told from the heart.
Curse of Nakaa
Banaba, 1931. As colonial mining strips a sacred island acre by acre and war engulfs the Pacific, the Banaban people hold fast to their ancestors and their land — while the old curse of Nakaa tightens its grip. A sweeping saga of greed, survival, and remembrance, woven from real family history.
Land of Matang, Book Two — following Nakaa's Awakening.
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CURSE OF NAKAA
Banaba, 1931. A small Pacific island. A people about to lose everything.
When the White family arrives on Ocean Island, they step into a world unlike any other — a place where colonial ambition and ancient tradition collide beneath the relentless machinery of a phosphate empire. For the Banaban people, the island is not just home; it is the resting place of their ancestors, the keeper of their stories, the source of their very identity. But the land is being stripped away, acre by sacred acre, and an old warning grows louder with each passing year: the curse of Nakaa has not been lifted.
As the world tips toward war, the fragile peace between coloniser and colonised shatters completely. When Japanese forces invaded in 1942, six Europeans chose to stay behind rather than abandon the people they had come to love. Banaban families are torn apart and scattered across the Pacific — to labour camps, to starvation, to unthinkable cruelty. Yet amid the horror, extraordinary courage emerges: a young man's desperate escape by canoe, a mother's unbreakable faith, a policeman forced to walk between two worlds, and a love that refuses to die even when everything else is lost.
Spanning fifteen years and woven from real family history, Curse of Nakaa is a sweeping, deeply researched saga of greed and sacrifice, survival and remembrance — and the enduring spirit of a people who would not be erased.
The Banabans believed they were cursed until Teimanaia's return. As war engulfs their island, the curse of Nakaa tightens its grip — and only their unbreakable faith in their ancestors can carry them through.
The second book in the Land of Matang series, following Nakaa's Awakening.
"Even though you were taken from Banaba, I know how often you return to your homeland, if only in your dreams..."
Praise for the Land of Matang series
Book Two — The Curse of Nakaa
Available Friday 17 July 2026
The story of Matang continues. As the shadow of war reaches the Pacific, the Banaban people face their darkest chapter yet — and Nakaa is not finished.
Be first to know when Book Two is released — and get a free chapter of Nakaa's Awakening today
Watch the official trailer for Nakaa's Awakening, Book One of the Land of Matang series — inspired by the true story of Banaba (Ocean Island).