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Holy Moli: Albatross and Other Ancestors
Hob Osterlund moved to Hawai'i after being visited in a dream by an ancestor, Martha Beckwith, author of the monumental classic, Hawaiian Mythology. It was there, on the island of Kaua'i, where she happened upon a few courting albatross and felt an inexplicable attraction to the birds—an attraction too powerful to be explained by their beguiling airbrushed eye shadows, enormous wingspans, and rollicking dances.
In Hawaiian mythology, ancestors may occupy the physical forms of animals known as 'aumakua. Laysan albatross—known as moli—are among them. Smitten with these charismatic creatures, Osterlund set out to learn everything she could about moli. She eventually came to embrace them as her 'aumakua—not as dusty old myths on a museum bookshelf, but as breathing, breeding, boisterous realities.
Albatross sport many superlative qualities. They live long—sometimes longer than sixty years—and spend the majority of their time airborne, gliding across vast oceanic expanses. They are model mates and devoted parents, and are among the only animals known to take long-term same-sex partners. In nesting season, they rack up inconceivable mileage just to find supper for chicks waiting on the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago.
It is from the island of Kaua'i that Holy Moli takes flight. Osterlund relates a true tale of courage, celebration and grief—of patience, affection and resilience. This is the story of how albatross guided the author on her own long journey, retracing distances and decades, back to the origin of a binding bargain she struck when she was ten years old, shortly after her mother’s death.
Holy Moli is a natural history of the albatross, a moving memoir of grief, and a soaring tribute to ancestors. Within its pages are lyrics of wonder—for freedom, for beauty, and for the far-flung feathered creatures known to us as albatross .
In Hawaiian mythology, ancestors may occupy the physical forms of animals known as 'aumakua. Laysan albatross—known as moli—are among them. Smitten with these charismatic creatures, Osterlund set out to learn everything she could about moli. She eventually came to embrace them as her 'aumakua—not as dusty old myths on a museum bookshelf, but as breathing, breeding, boisterous realities.
Albatross sport many superlative qualities. They live long—sometimes longer than sixty years—and spend the majority of their time airborne, gliding across vast oceanic expanses. They are model mates and devoted parents, and are among the only animals known to take long-term same-sex partners. In nesting season, they rack up inconceivable mileage just to find supper for chicks waiting on the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago.
It is from the island of Kaua'i that Holy Moli takes flight. Osterlund relates a true tale of courage, celebration and grief—of patience, affection and resilience. This is the story of how albatross guided the author on her own long journey, retracing distances and decades, back to the origin of a binding bargain she struck when she was ten years old, shortly after her mother’s death.
Holy Moli is a natural history of the albatross, a moving memoir of grief, and a soaring tribute to ancestors. Within its pages are lyrics of wonder—for freedom, for beauty, and for the far-flung feathered creatures known to us as albatross .
- GenresBirdsAnimalsNonfiction
208 pages, Paperback
Published May 5, 2016
15 people are currently reading
102 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
June 6, 2016
Holy Moli glitters with a strong, humorous voice and a lively style—lots of snazzy jazzy writing, sparkling language, and entertaining turns of thought. And albatrosses! This memoir and extended piece of nature writing weaves together the natural history of these birds, the author’s ten-year work as a citizen scientist studying their patterns of breeding in Hawaii, and her own childhood memories—specifically the death of her mother. It all works wonderfully well. The grief for a parent is real and rich. And I could listen to stories about albatrosses all day long. The sounds they make. The relationships they form. Pure charisma.
January 18, 2022
Visited Kauai and went birding with Hob Osterlund, the author of this book. First, I can't tell you how much I appreciated the caliber of writing, including alliteration, metaphors, similes, imagery and other literary devices. Bravo for a former nurse, who now watches over baby Laysan Albatross (AKA moli), and has such a joie de vivre.
August 25, 2017
Although the author describes these amazing birds with unparalleled love and admiration, I struggled with the therapeutic nature of the book as she entwined her personal life with anecdotes about this incredible species. Often, these felt too attenuated to make for a cohesive read.
November 30, 2018
Hob Osterlund has created a memoir and ornithological treatise wrapped into one beautifully readable text. Her work with the Kauai Albatross Network and her family history in the islands are interwoven as well. It was a happy surprise to attend a book signing at the Kilauea Lighthouse and Wildlife Refuge where I bought the book.
Osterlund underlines the connectedness between humans and other species, the necessity to protect both, and provides an example for how that can happen. The matrilineal genealogy provided made me smile.
Watching the birds fly is an amazing experience. A short video, Kalama's Journey, is available at http://www.albatrosskauai.org/wp/
p.82: Just like they are rooted to their place of hatch, I am anchored to certain immutable truths: when and where I was born, who my ancestors were, what my primary culture admires and abhors, what wars exploded, who broke my heart. All these details sleep in my bed with me, beyond my awareness and more central to my life than I can possibly imagine.
Osterlund underlines the connectedness between humans and other species, the necessity to protect both, and provides an example for how that can happen. The matrilineal genealogy provided made me smile.
Watching the birds fly is an amazing experience. A short video, Kalama's Journey, is available at http://www.albatrosskauai.org/wp/
p.82: Just like they are rooted to their place of hatch, I am anchored to certain immutable truths: when and where I was born, who my ancestors were, what my primary culture admires and abhors, what wars exploded, who broke my heart. All these details sleep in my bed with me, beyond my awareness and more central to my life than I can possibly imagine.
June 10, 2024
I picked up this book because I got zoomed by an albatross at the Kilauea Lighthouse on Kauai. Seeing it in the gift shop just seemed like Karma. Hob Osterlund calls herself a citizen scientist. Her stories weave albatrosses, nursing, family, grief, and Hawaii into a humorous, hopeful philosophy of life. This was a short read that left me feeling happy and centered.
July 5, 2016
The Laysan albatross is known as Mōlī in Hawaiian. It is difficult not to speak in superlatives when describing the albatross. The bird has a wingspan longer than most humans are tall. Albatross far outlive most other birds — with one active albatross now 64 years old. They spend most of their lives at sea, gliding just a few inches above the waves. Only 5% of their lives are spent on land — and this is where they are particularly vulnerable, when they are breeding and caring for their chicks.
Author Hob Osterlund is founder of the Kaua’i Albatross Network an organization that works to protect these birds. And through her writing you experience firsthand the challenges she and the birds face in establishing their relatively new colony. Generation by generation, Osterlund shares a wealth of stories, some happy and some not so.
Like the story of twin chicks, born to a couple that cannot possibly provide for both. Osterlund writes:
If you are like a lot of people, you might interrupt me now. You might ask if there wasn’t a way to hand-feed the chicks. I would have to refer you to Aaron; feeding a seabird is more complex than feeding a songbird. You have to be trained and officially authorized to slurry a squid and force-feed a ‘tross.
You might also ask whether The Twins should be euthanized to prevent their inevitable suffering. You might blame our species, and your own good self, for the many ways we’ve harmed the birds and their oceans. You might search for data to diminish your sorrow, to find a precedent. Alas, you will find little consolation in facts. None, actually. An albatross pair simply cannot catch and carry enough food to sustain two offspring.
We must try to be as brave as the babes, you and I.
But this is much more than a book about the albatross.
Interspersed are personal stories of a woman who lost her mother way too early. A woman who migrated to Hawaii after having been summoned in a dream by her ancestor.
Osterlund is a wonderful writer, deftly documenting a painful childhood while retaining her sense of humor throughout. She believes strongly in the power of humor, and this attitude carries through her writing.
As a bird lover, I appreciate how birds and humans are treated equally in this book. The birds have names, strong personalities, complex lives. They are, in other words, a lot like us. And, in other ways, they are our betters. Their navigational skills put most GPS devices to shame. And their willingness to raise chicks not of their own making is inspiring.
This is a lovely book about devoting your life to another species and coming to terms with your own.
This review was first published on EcoLit Books
Author Hob Osterlund is founder of the Kaua’i Albatross Network an organization that works to protect these birds. And through her writing you experience firsthand the challenges she and the birds face in establishing their relatively new colony. Generation by generation, Osterlund shares a wealth of stories, some happy and some not so.
Like the story of twin chicks, born to a couple that cannot possibly provide for both. Osterlund writes:
If you are like a lot of people, you might interrupt me now. You might ask if there wasn’t a way to hand-feed the chicks. I would have to refer you to Aaron; feeding a seabird is more complex than feeding a songbird. You have to be trained and officially authorized to slurry a squid and force-feed a ‘tross.
You might also ask whether The Twins should be euthanized to prevent their inevitable suffering. You might blame our species, and your own good self, for the many ways we’ve harmed the birds and their oceans. You might search for data to diminish your sorrow, to find a precedent. Alas, you will find little consolation in facts. None, actually. An albatross pair simply cannot catch and carry enough food to sustain two offspring.
We must try to be as brave as the babes, you and I.
But this is much more than a book about the albatross.
Interspersed are personal stories of a woman who lost her mother way too early. A woman who migrated to Hawaii after having been summoned in a dream by her ancestor.
Osterlund is a wonderful writer, deftly documenting a painful childhood while retaining her sense of humor throughout. She believes strongly in the power of humor, and this attitude carries through her writing.
As a bird lover, I appreciate how birds and humans are treated equally in this book. The birds have names, strong personalities, complex lives. They are, in other words, a lot like us. And, in other ways, they are our betters. Their navigational skills put most GPS devices to shame. And their willingness to raise chicks not of their own making is inspiring.
This is a lovely book about devoting your life to another species and coming to terms with your own.
This review was first published on EcoLit Books
January 17, 2018
Hob Osterlund’s debut Holy Moli: Albatross and Other Ancestors (OSU Press) blends memoir with her close study of Laysan albatross. When a distant relative — her grandmother’s cousin, a respected cultural anthropologist who wrote the book Hawaiian Mythology — appears in Osterlund’s dream, the author interprets it as a sign to move to Hawaii.
With only a few hundred bucks in her pocket, Osterlund moves to Kauai and a series of serendipitous events puts her on the path to studying albatross, or moli as the birds are known locally. These magnificent birds spend many months alone at sea, “gliding on gravity and wind” over vast distances across the Northern Pacific Ocean, until each November when their instincts, or the “ancestral GPS in their cells,” pull them thousands of miles back to their lifelong mates and nesting grounds.
Osterlund writes the life stories of several individual albatross, sharing their names, their quirks and personalities until we too are hooked on these peculiar, endearing creatures and their seemingly-impossible life quests. She also explores the Hawaiian concept of aumakua, or “guardian ancestors in animal form,” and finds that her intimacy with albatross provides healing for past familial trauma.
With only a few hundred bucks in her pocket, Osterlund moves to Kauai and a series of serendipitous events puts her on the path to studying albatross, or moli as the birds are known locally. These magnificent birds spend many months alone at sea, “gliding on gravity and wind” over vast distances across the Northern Pacific Ocean, until each November when their instincts, or the “ancestral GPS in their cells,” pull them thousands of miles back to their lifelong mates and nesting grounds.
Osterlund writes the life stories of several individual albatross, sharing their names, their quirks and personalities until we too are hooked on these peculiar, endearing creatures and their seemingly-impossible life quests. She also explores the Hawaiian concept of aumakua, or “guardian ancestors in animal form,” and finds that her intimacy with albatross provides healing for past familial trauma.
November 15, 2017
If it’s about birds, I will probably love it. That being said, I often wonder how we can get more people to care about nature, to see its beauty and know that it should be cherished whether or not we see its value to humans. That it’s beauty is simply enough for us to care. Hob Osterlund does an amazing job of personifying, in the very real sense of the word, each of the lives of the albatrosses she observes. I read in full anticipation for the positive outcome of each new chick as much as if it were a new human baby. Hob’s own life story, her greatest pain, her greatest learnings through the lives of the birds is poignant. The writing is exquisite. The humor is delightful. It has been a while since I enjoyed a book this much. The mother she sought resides within herself.
January 13, 2022
The fact is, I know I am going to like a book about birds that gets personal. Personal about the author, sure--that's a bonus--but also personal about the birds. Because getting personal with birds is eminently possible, and we're usually the ones in the way of the relationship, by our ignorance or obliviousness.
But I'm barely capable of really loving a book about any interesting thing unless it is written with joy, especially joy in the language. I plain bounded through this one. It is personal, it is lyrical, it is funny, and it's profoundly interesting, because the birds themselves are interesting. I remain grateful to Hob Osterlund for allowing me to make the acquaintance of the Laysan albatross. We really don't have anything better to do than to acquaint ourselves with birds.
But I'm barely capable of really loving a book about any interesting thing unless it is written with joy, especially joy in the language. I plain bounded through this one. It is personal, it is lyrical, it is funny, and it's profoundly interesting, because the birds themselves are interesting. I remain grateful to Hob Osterlund for allowing me to make the acquaintance of the Laysan albatross. We really don't have anything better to do than to acquaint ourselves with birds.
September 5, 2019
The albatross is part of Hob Osterlund's "family". She follows the lineage of a particular family of albatross as they meet and part and meet once more to raise their little one over a period of years. The remarkable aspect is the time and distance these creatures must maintain. There are thousands of miles to fly. A tiny spot of land on the island of Kauai to return, and the life they have is filled with their own kind of love.
Along with this interesting fact loaded tale, Ms. Osterland shares her familial history that in its way is heroic. Yes, this very beautifully written book is amazing. A must read on several levels.
Along with this interesting fact loaded tale, Ms. Osterland shares her familial history that in its way is heroic. Yes, this very beautifully written book is amazing. A must read on several levels.
October 20, 2016
I love birds. have since I was a little girl watching them at the feeder outside our kitchen window eating my sugar pops. and i do miss the variety of mainland garden birds since living here. that said we do have an extraordinary array of stunning pelagic species here on kauai. among them the subject of this wonderful book - the albatross. and this story of this author's intimate relationship with them gave me a window in both the albatross' and the author's worlds. i am grateful and more deeply appreciative of the albatross after closing this book.
February 3, 2017
An informative, perceptive, funny, and revealing story about Albatross and the author. Albatross have astounding abilities to travel great distances alone over sea to find food for their families (mostly squid) and then return thousands of miles to their exact breeding colony locations in Hawaii and Midway Islands. Osterlund enhances this incredible story by weaving Albatross and her family histories together. Her outstanding photographs were the icing on the cake. This book celebrates life in human and Albatross (as well as other) forms.
September 30, 2019
Enjoyed the "mystical" aspect's of the author's move to Kauai. Really liked her memoir of childhood; the story of losing her mother really resonated. I liked the way the stories of the albatross were integrated into her life story. I would like to see this short memoir expanded with more stories from the author's adult life, especially her life as a nurse and photographer and as a woman. I met the author at a book-signing at the Kilauea Lighthouse on Kauai--I highly recommend a visit. I didn't have knowledge of the many birds in the area so wish I had known more before I visited.
January 4, 2017
This is a gem of a book! Hob Osterlund writes about the Mōlī (Laysan Albatross) with humour, compassion and a sense of wonder that has turned me into a fan of this wonderful bird. Weaving the stories of the birds with reflections from her own life, the book is both interesting and informative. It was impossible to read without catching Hob's enthusiasm.
January 11, 2018
An important book. The focus on individual birds works well as an argument for protecting the albatross and their habitat. The writing style didn't work for me. But when I let go of that, I enjoyed the author's enthusiasm and respected her resilience. I'm a bit envious — none of my ancestors has ever walked into my dreams with a life-changing book in hand.
May 31, 2016
Great read. Engaging, funny and heartwarming. I learned a lot about the beautiful albatross and their habits and personalities, as well as about the author, who I had the pleasure to spend some time with on Kauai! Well done, Hob!
March 7, 2017
30% about albatross, 70% memoir. 100% good. I haven't recommended a book to this many different people in a long time.
July 3, 2016
Beautifully written. Poignant and humorous.
December 19, 2025
The Albatross is a fascinating bird. Not being a birder myself I figured I would not get into this. But, Hob does a lovely job of intertwining basic information about albatross, her interactions with the birds and her personal story. Some of the anthropomorphizing left me a little cold and some of the whoo whoo was a bit too much but overall I really enjoyed it and feel I have learned quite a bit about this bird. I found watching albatross in flight near Cape Horn on a recent trip fit right in to having just finished this book.
February 6, 2026
I picked this book up at the Kilauea National Wildlife Refuge where the author was signing her books. I had stumbled on some albatross on a hike on Kauai and was delighted by the birds. I read the book in one afternoon, and found it a warm and delightful book of healing and insight into the intertwining of the human and nature world we live in. Delightful and uplifting.
February 9, 2023
I read this after doing a birding tour with Hob, where she introduced me to a two day old albatross chick. A touching and thoughtful memoir about generational belonging between both birds and humans.
October 12, 2024
The author seems like a total badass and I liked the parallel story between the albatross and her own family and experiences. A nice read.
April 20, 2025
Gorgeous book, highly recommended
December 3, 2016
Enjoyable. I did learn about albatross and have been especially impressed by the parents' devotion to their young, courtship, and the challenges facing these birds today. Funny. Osterlund brings the world of albatross alive, and I got caught up in quite a few of the stories, and of course I was always cheering for the bird. But, the book is also a memoir, and it's tough for me to rate a nature book high when it's also a memoir--mainly because I am often much more interested in the main topic than in the author's life, background, and pains. Occasionally this isn't so, and I will get fascinated by the author too. Just me, and it just doesn't happen often. If you are interested in these birds and like memoir- you will probably love this book!
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews