![]() Mi-ja is an orphaned daughter of a Japanese collaborator who is informally adopted by Young-sook’s mother despite the stigma attached to her and together the two girls train with their village collective of haenyeo (해녀), women divers who harvest sea creatures for food and to sell, to fulfill their eventual roles as breadwinners of their families. The Island of Sea Women revolves around the friendship-sisterhood of two women, Young-sook and Mi-ja, who grew up together in Hado on Jeju Island. The author, Lisa See, is American with Chinese roots (among others) and has written a number of historical novels based in East Asia and Los Angeles’ Chinatown where she grew up. It also made me aware of the strategic importance Jeju Island has held through history as a “stepping stone”, as the author puts it, to other major states, including China, Japan, the USSR. ![]() Reading The Island of Sea Women transformed my perception of Jeju. ![]() ![]() I pictured it as a small, sun-soaked island with beautiful beaches and blue seas. I’m not particularly familiar with Korean history and geography, although more so than I was when I read Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, but I have heard of Jeju Island, off the southern tip of the Korean Peninsula, as a tourist destination. ![]()
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