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The Mermaid from Jeju

Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
1 of 1 copy available
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, she urges her mother to allow her to make their annual trip to Mt. Halla, where they trade sea delicacies for pork. A sea-village girl, Junja has never been to the mountains, where it smells like mushrooms and earth, and it is there she falls in love with 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 gone, and the ghost of her mother haunting their home—from the meticulously tended herb garden that has begun sprouting 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 Junja's 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, Junja must learn to navigate a tumultuous world unlike anything she's ever known.
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    • Publisher's Weekly

      October 19, 2020
      Hahn’s sweeping debut follows a girl growing up on the Korean island of Jeju in the lead up to U.S. intervention. In 1944, one year before the American occupation of southern Korea begins, 18-year-old Junja has just completed the haenyeo rite of passage, meaning she’s now responsible for providing for her family by diving for mollusks. After Junja convinces her mother to let her take an annual trip to Hallasan in her mother’s place, to pay respects to the sacred mountain, the narrative picks up speed. On her way, Junja encounters two figures who will become pivotal to the Communist rebels in Jeju: Lieutenant Lee, a military officer whose loyalties secretly reside with the people of Jeju whom the Americans have labeled Communist, and who takes an interest in Junja’s family; and Suwol, a boy who shifts gears on his way to becoming a scholar to join the Communists. As Suwol goes on rebel missions while the Americans battle alongside nationalist soldiers against Communists, his relationship with Junja deepens. The star-crossed lovers finally come close to marrying when fate intervenes. Meanwhile, Lee shares information about Suwol with Junja, and even helps rescue Suwol after he’s captured by nationalist soldiers. Hahn brilliantly carries the reader through Junja’s life with interstitial chapters set in 2001, shortly after her death. With constant tension, the novel masterfully captures the devastating effects of loss and grief, and what people must do to survive war. Agent: Priya Doraswamy, Lotus Lane Literary.

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  • English

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