From her 1997 Flower Net to The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane, See has drawn a strong following and many awards—the Golden Spike Award from the Chinese Historical Association of Southern California and the History Maker’s Award from the Chinese American Museum—for her compelling fictional portrayals of strong Chinese women. Her new novel takes place on Korea’s Jeju Island and follows Mi-ja and Young-sook, members of a women’s diving collective, through several decades. Devoted friends, the two play very different roles in their community, and as the era of Japanese colonialism gives way to the Second World War and then the Korean War, their relationship reflects the social and political tensions at work around them.