The Island of Sea Women
By Lisa See

A new novel from Lisa See, theand New York Timesand bestselling authorand ofand The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, aboutand female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island.and Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living onand the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea withand their village's all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook's mother. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginningand a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger.Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook's differences are impossible to ignore.and The Island of Sea Womenand is an epic set over many decades, beginning during a period ofand Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed byand World War II, the Korean Warand and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wetsuits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja isand the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Young-sook was born into a long line ofand haenyeoand and will inherit her mother's position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one whereand the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work,and and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story-one of women's friendships and the larger forces that shape them-The Island of Sea Womenand introduces readers to theand fierce and unforgettableand female divers of Jeju Island and theand dramatic historyand that shaped their lives. For centuries, women on Korea's Jeju island have been free-diving into the sea, a practice explored through this fictionalized story of two friends who struggle to stay close amid war, family rivalries, and a shifting cultural landscape. It'sand riveting, historical, and heartbreaking all at once'and Marie Claire Lisa See excels at mining the intersection of family, friendship and history... This novel spans wars and generations, but at its heart is a beautifully rendered story of two women whose individual choices become inextricably tangled'and Jodi Picoult I was spellbound the moment I entered the vivid and little-known world of the diving women of Jeju… No one writes about female friendship… with more insight and depth than Lisa See'and Sue Monk Kidd, author ofand The Secret Life of Beesand