Listen free for 30 days

Listen with offer

Preview
  • The Island of Sea Women

  • By: Lisa See
  • Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
  • Length: 13 hrs and 22 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (441 ratings)

£0.00 for first 30 days

Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Island of Sea Women

By: Lisa See
Narrated by: Jennifer Lim
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.

Summary

The beautiful novel of female friendship and family secrets on a small Korean island, from the New York Times bestselling author of The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane

Mi-ja and Young-sook, two girls living on the Korean island of Jeju, are best friends that 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’s differences are impossible to ignore. The Island of Sea Women is an epic set over many decades, beginning during a period of Japanese colonialism in the 1930s and 1940s, followed by World War II, the Korean War and its aftermath, through the era of cell phones and wetsuits 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, and she will forever be marked by this association. 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 after surviving hundreds of dives and developing the closest of bonds, forces outside their control will push their friendship to the breaking point.

This beautiful, thoughtful novel illuminates a world turned upside down, one where the women are in charge, engaging in dangerous physical work, and the men take care of the children. A classic Lisa See story—one of women’s friendships and the larger forces that shape them—The Island of Sea Women introduces readers to the fierce and unforgettable female divers of Jeju Island and the dramatic history that shaped their lives.

‘For centuries, women on Korea’s Jeju island have been free-diving into the sea, a practice explored through this fictionalized story of two friends who struggle to stay close amid war, family rivalries, and a shifting cultural landscape. It’s riveting, historical, and heartbreaking all at once’ Marie Claire
‘Lisa See excels at mining the intersection of family, friendship and history... This novel spans wars and generations, but at its heart is a beautifully rendered story of two women whose individual choices become inextricably tangled’ Jodi Picoult, author of A Spark of Light

‘I was spellbound the moment I entered the vivid and little-known world of the diving women of Jeju… No one writes about female friendship… with more insight and depth than Lisa See’ Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees

©2019 Lisa See (P)2019 Simon & Schuster UK
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

The Color of Our Sky cover art
Bliss cover art
All the Murmuring Bones cover art
Old Land, New Tales cover art
Elizabeth Street cover art
The Elephant Chaser's Daughter cover art
The Golden Orchard cover art
A Thousand Splendid Suns cover art
The Secrets Between Us cover art
Mornings in Jenin cover art
The Rent Collector cover art
Three Daughters cover art
The Things We Cannot Say cover art
The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek cover art
The Blue Between Sky and Water cover art
From Sand and Ash cover art

Critic reviews

'Lisa See excels at mining the intersection of family, friendship and history... This novel spans wars and generations, but at its heart is a beautifully rendered story of two women whose individual choices become inextricably tangled' (Jodi Picoult)
'I was spellbound the moment I entered the vivid and little-known world of the diving women of Jeju... No one writes about female friendship, the dark and the light of it, with more insight and depth than Lisa See' (Sue Monk Kidd, author of The Secret Life of Bees)

What listeners say about The Island of Sea Women

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    347
  • 4 Stars
    65
  • 3 Stars
    24
  • 2 Stars
    4
  • 1 Stars
    1
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    305
  • 4 Stars
    56
  • 3 Stars
    17
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    302
  • 4 Stars
    54
  • 3 Stars
    19
  • 2 Stars
    2
  • 1 Stars
    2

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant book but a difficult listen in places.

Best book I’ve listened to for a long time. Very informative about a period of history I had no idea about. Very shocking that the USA would turn a blind eye to such atrocities under its stewardship of South Korea just a few years after it chaired the Nuremberg trials for the atrocities of the Second World War. The story woven around the two main characters is compelling.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Interesting history

For a bit confused by the names of the characters , other than that it was a good listen.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

an incredibly moving history that i knew nothing about

beautifully evocative and engrossing and so full of interesting historical facts about interwar and post war Korea. alongside this runs a rich and formidable tale of female friendship, matriarchy, tradition and love. wonderful.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

brilliant

I loved this book. a harrowing reminder of the Korean war but a great story with female leads.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A great read

A novel on life, tragedy and friendship, a story to get your teeth into. Great characters, warts and all, the novel not only transports one to Korea but the reader is left all the more richer in knowledge about the history and culture of Korean people.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Beautiful story

Loved this book. Easy to listen to and interesting story. Would recommend it fellow listeners.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Couldn’t stop listening!

I loved this, and couldn’t stop listening, squeezing in even a few minutes if I could. It was heart-wrenching, beautiful and well-written. I recommend it to everyone.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

wow, totally gripped me

I don't know what I was expecting but the story was just fascinating. I don't know much about Korean history so i kept cross checking the history and events. a spot on historical novel, but with a large dose of humanity.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

absorbing story

overall the story was absorbing, however it was very slow starting and took a good few hours to become so. The narration is a little uninteresting, with no real variation in tone, but was very helpful when it came to the Korean words a phrases. Overall worth a listen

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking history

As a female scuba diver I expected the story to be about diving and the ocean but it is so much more. Educational and inspirational I thoroughly loved every second. Too often the words brought me to tears and ultimately it is a story of missed chances and a broken friendship but I highly recommend you step in to the world of the female HANYA diving community.❤️❤️❤️❤️

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful