Genre: Historical Fiction

Publisher: Alcove Press, Published December 8

Format: ebook

Pages: 304 

Rating: 5/5 stars

Synopsis (Goodreads):

In the tradition of Yangsze Choo’s Night Tiger and Min Jin Lee’s Pachinko comes a magical saga that explores what it really means to love.

In the aftermath of World War II, Goh Junja is a girl just coming into her own. She is the latest successful deep sea diver in a family of strong haenyeo. Confident she is a woman now, Junja urges her mother to allow her to make the Goh family’s annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade abalone and other sea delicacies for pork. Junja, a sea village girl, has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with a mountain boy Yang Suwol, who rescues her after a particularly harrowing journey. But when Junja returns one day later, it is just in time to see her mother take her last breath, beaten by the waves during a dive she was taking in Junja’s place.

Spiraling in grief, Junja sees her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father, Suwol is gone, the ghost of her mother haunts their home–from the meticulously tended herb garden that has now begun to sprout weeds, to the field where their bed sheets are beaten. She has only her grandmother and herself. But the world moves on without Junja.

The political climate is perilous. Still reeling from Japan’s forced withdrawal from the peninsula, Korea is forced to accommodate the rapid establishment of US troops, and her grandmother, who lived through the Japanese invasion that led to Korea’s occupation understands the signs of danger all too well. When Suwol is arrested for working with and harboring communists, and the perils of post-WWII overtake her homelands, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she’s ever known.

My Review:

Thank you Netgalley and Alcove Press for the ebook copy of this book.
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A beautiful and heartbreaking take if Junja, a young woman who is a deep sea diver/a haenyeo in Korea around the time of the Second World War. The book focuses on Junja’s experiences in Korea, as well as looks at the impact of Japanese Occupation, The American Occupation, and the rise of Communism in Korea. Throughout all of this turmoil, Junja is focused on providing for her family, and feels stuck between doing what is right for her family and doing what she wants. We also learn about the Korean immigration experience in the USA.
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I like how this book went back and forth between the past and the present so we as the reader could piece together the plot of the story together. The writing was absolutely beautiful and kept me captivated throughout. I couldn’t put it down!