The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See

The incredible story of the heroic Haenyeo sea women divers of the Korean island of Jeju and the horrors they faced at the hands of the various countries that occupied this small island. Generations of women free divers under freezing water conditions dove every day for hours to collect the sea's bounty and provide for their families. In their unusual culture, the men stayed home and watched over the young ones and cooked, while the women of the family from teens to the elderly would dive in the "wet fields" and tend to the "dry fields". The money they earned would be used to send the men of the family to school. The Haenyeo were very well respected and lived by a very strict code. Two of these women became friends when they were very young just beginning as "baby divers" and stayed the best of friends until tragedy and war forced them apart. The determination, family loyalty, work ethic and challenges these women faced and the hardships they endured makes for a fascinating story and one that only Lisa See can tell so well. She is a master at bringing the reader into a world so unlike my own and yet the characters are always those that you can identify with and learn from.