I recieved an ARC of The Mermaid from Jeju from NetGalley and Alcove Press.
**The Mermaid from Jeju is set for publication on December 8th 2020
What the book is about.
It is the aftermath of World War II. Junja is a young Korean on the cusp of adulthood. She comes from a family of strong, deep sea diving women known as Haenyeo. Along Junja’s journey into adulthood, she falls in love with mountain boy, Yang Suwol.
Junja’s mother dies and during her grief, Junja also has to see her younger siblings sent to live with their estranged father.
Suwol is gone and Junja only has her grandmother and herself at home.
The political climate is dangerous in Korea and the US establish a military government in Korea. Tensions on Jeju are running high… Suwol ends up being arrested for harboring communists and Junja must learn to live in and find safety in a much changed Korea. Will Junja survive and make it out of Jeju?
What I thought about the book.
The story is told in two parts, the first following Junja as a young woman. The second follows her husband and children.
The writing and the plot are extremely beautiful. It is a very easy book to get hooked into and you end up not wanting to put it down.
Characters are very well written and strong, apart from Junja’s husband. I found him a little boring unfortunately.
The bulk of this novel is wonderful.
The ending, unfortunately for me, was a bit confusing. I felt like I had to re-read it to understand what happened. It seemed to suddenly merge into a legend based story and I didn’t quite understand why or fully understand the resolution.
It is still an amazing debut and a book all fans of historical fiction should read. It taught me about historical events I had not known of before.
About the authour.
Sumi Hahn was born in Korea, grew up in the US, and now lives mostly in New Zealand with her husband, three children, and various animals. For more information, visit mermaidfromjeju.com (trust me, go visit this website. It is so beautiful and there is an original uncut Author’s Note about the book on there and many beautiful photographs)
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