This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. 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.

Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother's position leading the divers in their village. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator, and she will forever be marked by this association. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. The Island of Sea Women is an epoch set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility but also danger.ĭespite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook's differences are impossible to ignore. When they are old enough, they begin working in the sea with their village's all-female diving collective, led by Young-sook's mother. Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that come from very different backgrounds.

Lisa see women of the sea