It’s also an eye-opening portrait of a country ravaged by decades of conflict and unrest, and a searing examination of the effects that foreign intervention can have on the evolution of a nation and of course individual lives. THE ISLAND OF SEA WOMEN deftly explores the complexities of female friendship and introduces readers to the remarkably strong and spirited female divers of Jeju Island. As their husbands’ political ties and tumultuous world events threaten their friendship, Young-sook and Mi-ja see their remote island and everything they have known upended. The daughter of a Japanese collaborator, Mi-ja will forever bear the mark of her father’s activities, while Young-sook looks poised to inherit her mother’s role as the leader of her village diving collective.
They also face growing unrest from the political turmoil that surrounds their homeland: Japanese occupation gives way to World War II, the Korean War, and its aftermath, leaving the residents of Jeju caught between warring empires. Over the years, Young-sook and Mi-ja endure together the loss of parents, the dramas of marriage and childbirth, cruel family members, disruptive technological advances, and the ever-present dangers that accompany their livelihood.
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