Excerpt from The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

When Mother sounded the call that the day was done, I was relieved. She looked in my direction, but I wasn't sure if she saw me or not. I glimpsed Mi-ja and the Kangs swimming to the boat. They'd be the first three on board, so they'd get to listen as the other women breached the waters and let out their sumbisori. I was about to start paddling when Yu-ri said, "Wait. I saw something on my last dive. Let's go get it." She glanced around, taking in how far the grandmother-divers were from the boat. "We can do it before they get here. Come on!"

Mother had said I was supposed to stay with Yu-ri, but she'd also called for us to return to the boat. I made a split-second decision, took a few deeps breaths, and followed Yu-ri. We went to the same shelf where we'd been harvesting sea urchins. Yu-ri dragged herself along the craggy surface, pulled out her bitchang, jabbed it in a hole, and yanked out an octopus. It was huge! The arms must have been a meter long. Such a catch! I would get some credit for it too.

The octopus reached out and looped an arm around my wrist. I wrenched it loose. By the time I'd done that, some of its other limbs had grabbed on to Yu-ri. One had latched on to my thigh and was drawing me toward it, while another was slithering sucker over sucker up my other arm. I struggled to pull them off. The octopus's bulbous head moved toward Yu-ri's face, but she was so busy fighting the other arms that were reeling her closer into its grip that she didn't notice. I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn't. Not underwater.

Before another moment passed, Yu-ri's face was covered. Instead of fighting or resisting, I swam closer, linked my arms around the octopus and Yu-ri, and kicked as hard as I could. As soon as we breached the surface, I yelled, "Help! Help! Help us!"

The octopus was strong. Yu-ri's face was still covered. The creature was trying to pull us back under. I kicked and kicked. Suckers loosened from Yu-ri and came to me, sensing I was now the greater threat. They creeped along my arms and legs.

I heard splashing, then arms grabbed me. Knives flashed in the sun as suckers were pried from my skin, chunks of the octopus cut off and tossed through the air, discarded. Buoyed by the others, I lifted a leg so they could remove the suckers. When I caught a glimpse of my mother's face, fierce in concentration, I knew I'd be safe. Women worked on Yu-ri too, but she didn't seem to be helping them. Do-saeng pulled her arm back, her knife in her fist. If I were her, I would have used all my strength to stab the octopus's head, but she couldn't. Yu-ri was under there. Do-saeng went up under the octopus's head, running the blade parallel to her daughter's face. Despite the support from the women surrounding us, I could feel in my legs that I was the one keeping Yu-ri afloat even as the octopus continued to try to drag us under. The limpness of Yu-ri's body in my arms told me something the others hadn't yet realized. As strong as I wanted to be, I began to cry inside my goggles.

The women worked their way up to the thicker parts of the octopus's appendages. That, combined with the repeated jabs and pokes to the octopus's head from the tip of Do-saeng's knife, thoroughly weakened the creature. It was either dead or close to it, but like that of a lizard or a frog, its body still had impulses and strength.

Finally, I was free.

"Can you swim to the boat?" Mother asked.

"What about Yu-ri?"

"We'll take care of her. Can you make it alone?"

I nodded, but now that the battle was over, whatever had caused me to fight so hard was dissipating fast. I made it about halfway to the boat before I had to flip onto my back to float and rest for a moment. Above me, clouds traveled quickly, pushed by the wind. A bird flew overhead. I closed my eyes, trying to draw on deeper strength. Waves lapped against my ears—submerging them one moment, then exposing them to the worried sounds of the women still with Yu-ri. I heard a splash, then a second, and a third. Arms once again supported me. I opened my eyes: Mi-ja and the Kang sisters. Together they helped me to the boat. Gu-ja, the strongest of us, heaved herself up and over the side. I placed my arms on the side of the boat and began to hoist myself up, but the ordeal had left me too weak. Mi-ja and Gu-sun each placed a hand under my bottom and pushed me up. I slipped onto the deck like a caught fish. I lay there panting, my limbs like rubber, my mind exhausted. I pulled my goggles from my eyes, and they clattered to the deck. The whole while, the three girls babbled nonstop.

Excerpted from The Island of Sea Women by Lisa See. Copyright © 2019 by Lisa See. Excerpted by permission of Scribner. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.