French Polynesia

Breadfruit, by Célestine Hitiura Vaite (2000). Life is good on the island of Tahiti for professional cleaner Materena Mahi, her man, Pito, and their three kids—until Pito comes home drunk one day and proposes marriage. This sets Materena off in a flurry of wedding plans, involving her large and voluble clan—despite the fact that Pito has since sobered up and gotten cold feet. This warm and humorous debut novel by Tahiti-born Vaite won the 2004 Prix Litteraire Des Étudiants and is part of a trilogy starring Materena that's full of the flavor of contemporary life in French Polynesia.