'Look for your sister after each dive. Never forget. If you see her, you are safe.'
Hana and her little sister Emi are part of an island community of haenyeo, women who make their living from diving deep into the sea off the southernmost tip of Korea.
One day Hana sees a Japanese soldier heading for where Emi is guarding the day's catch on the beach. Her mother has told her again and again never to be caught alone with one. Terrified for her sister, Hana swims as hard as she can for the shore.
So begins the story of two sisters suddenly and violently separated by war. Switch-backing between Hana in 1943 and Emi as an old woman today, White Chrysanthemum takes us into a dark and devastating corner of history. But pulling us back into the light are two women whose love for one another is strong enough to triumph over the evils of war.
A riveting, immersive read in the vein of The Kite Runner and Memoirs of a Geisha.
Publisher: Vintage Publishing
ISBN: 9781784741440
Number of pages: 320
Weight: 461 g
Dimensions: 222 x 144 x 30 mm
An incredibly moving story of two Korean sisters during the Second World War, as one of them is kidnapped by Japanese soldier to serve as " comfort woman" to members of Japanese army. The younger sister is... More
Set in 1943 this is the story of two sisters. One is kidnapped on the beach by a Japanese soldier in Japanese occupied South Korea and is sold into sexual slavery as a "comfort woman" for Japanese soldiers.... More
This was phenomenal. A tragic but beautiful novel that highlights what happened to Korean women who were stolen, tricked, or sold into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers during WW2. Needless to say, a tough read at... More
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