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The Intoxicating comfort of a Captivating Book Book Club will focus on historical fiction, literary fiction, war fiction, coming-of-age fiction, women's fiction and award winning books.  We would love to have people join so please do so If these are genres you love.  We will be meeting virtually the third Sunday of the month at 4pm PST. Hope to see you there!

Lemon Grove Books

A bookclub to celebrate and champion women's fiction!

Anything Goes Book Club

We're open to anyone and just like the name implies: we'll read any sort of book! We meet monthly to discuss whatever book is on deck!

The Island of Sea Women: A Novel

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

“A mesmerizing new historical novel” (O, The Oprah Magazine) from Lisa See, the bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, about female friendship and devastating family secrets on a small Korean island.

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends who come from very different backgrounds. 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. As the girls take up their positions as baby divers, they know they are beginning a life of excitement and responsibility—but also danger.

Despite their love for each other, Mi-ja and Young-sook find it impossible to ignore their differences. The Island of Sea Women takes place over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War, through the era of cell phones and wet suits for the women divers. Throughout this time, the residents of Jeju find themselves caught between warring empires. Mi-ja is the daughter of a Japanese collaborator. Young-sook was born into a long line of haenyeo and will inherit her mother’s position leading the divers in their village. Little do the two friends know that forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

“This vivid…thoughtful and empathetic” novel (The New York Times Book Review) illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge and the men take care of the children. “A wonderful ode to a truly singular group of women” (Publishers Weekly), The Island of Sea Women is a “beautiful story…about the endurance of friendship when it’s pushed to its limits, and you…will love it” (Cosmopolitan).
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Published Mar 10, 2020

400 pages

Average rating: 8.18

975 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

lovebookscs
Mar 06, 2025
Two women work together with their village's all-female diving collective as they explore the matrilocal haenyeo society and provide for their families.
Khris Sellin
Jul 05, 2024
8/10 stars
Fascinating history of the women sea divers of Jeju Island, although I have to admit the first part of it was a little tedious for me.
KikiStoneCreek
Jun 03, 2023
10/10 stars
My favorite Lisa Jewell book to date! This book was masterfully crafted and kept me turning page after page after page!
Harrietaspy
May 04, 2025
8/10 stars
I shouldn't be surprised any more about how limited my knowledge is of modern history but I knew nothing about this part of Korean, Japanese and American/USSR history. Written well in the first person with so much detail. The links between present and past were clear and sequential making the reader want to keep reading to pull them all together.

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