Three Korean girls leave their homeland in 1918 on a voyage halfway around the world to Hawaii, with the promise of marriage to Korean men who desire a Korean bride. Having only a picture and the word of the matchmaker, each girl faces a new husband, a new land, and new circumstances that they never would have imagined. 18-year-old Willow learns that her husband Taewan doesn't own a sugar plantation--he works on one for minimal wages. They face many hardships in their poverty-stricken lives, but eventually move in order to better their lives. Hongju's husband is not 36 as he claimed--he is closer to 60. Songhwa, who is from the lowest Korean class, is married to Sokbo, who beats her. None of the marriages is what the girls dreamed of, but throughout the novel, they stick together. One is widowed, one is abandoned, and one returns to Korea, but this is a story that will stick with the reader. I learned so much about the immigration stories of the Koreans, and that time in Hawaii's history. This book would be a great book club choice, as it has much to discuss.