Petera Veu was born out of wedlock and into a time when girls lived lives of quiet, domestic servitude.

But Petera Veu had other ideas.

Like the Fijian island of Rotuma in which she was raised, Petera didn't quite fit in with her surroundings. She picked fights, stole food, rebuked priests and generally spoke her mind whenever possible. Determined, independent and, at times, downright intractable, Petera Veu lived life on her own terms.

"A Remarkable Rotuman Woman" is Jacinta Tonga's memoir of her late grandmother, the indomitable Petera Veu, and speaks of traditional life in the...