There are moments in time, for certain generations, where change comes where traditions that have lasted for centuries, blow away like dandelion seeds on a breezy day. The struggle against change, the pain of acceptance, leaves scars.

Lisa See’s carefully observed novel takes you though decades of unprecedented and accelerated change and conflict, seen through the eyes of best friends Mi Ja and Young Sook, two of the haenyeo Sea Women and the generations that come before and after them.

It’s a story about friendship, strength, cruelty, vulnerabilty, oppression and love.

I’ve never read anything like it, it made me cry for what was lost, what was found and the remarkable ability of people to hold onto love, sometimes without realising it.