Martina
Martina asked Lisa See:

Hi Lisa, I just wanted to say hi and share that The Island of Sea Women was the most powerful book I read in 2022. Over the past few years, I've become very picky with what I like, so when I found myself completely immersed in this book, feeling the story in my bones, I felt incredibly grateful. My question is: how do you choose the time period of the storylines you want to write about?

Lisa See First, thank you for your beautiful words. You've made me very happy today.

Every book is different. For the Island of Sea Women, I could have set the book two hundred years ago or on a single weekend in, say, 2015. But when I learned about the 4.3 incident, I knew that I wanted to include it--not just because it was history that most of us don't know but also because it fit so well with my theme of forgiveness.

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