A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

Seventeen-year-old Hwang Boyeon (Iseul)is determined to find her older sister, Suyeon who was  kidnapped only three days earlier by the tyrant King Yeonsan who rules Korea. 

The two sisters had lost their parents when royal soldiers had killed their father, a magistrate and their mother. Iseul and Suyeon had fled to their grandmothers hut. Living with the grandmother had not been easy. Suyeon had taken work but Iseul wanted to preserve her hands and had only complained. The two sisters frequently quarrelled. Suyeon who was very beautiful, was taken when she followed Iseul out of their hut after an argument. King Yeonsan kidnapped married, betrothed women, taking even the noble daughters. So Iseul believes her sisters kidnapping is her fault.

Exhausted, Iseul travels through the part of Gyeonggi Province that is not the king's personal hunting grounds. The once flourishing territory is emptied of thousands of people. Arriving in a small hamlet, Iseul enters a thatched-roof inn, The Red Lantern, where she almost collapses. She is helped by a young woman who seems too kind and too sweet. 

The woman quickly surmises that Iseul is looking for someone and she tells her that the hamlet has a bell that rings to warn the young women that the king is about to pass through. This allows them to hide and avoid being kidnapped. She also reveals that the king travels with hundreds of his most favoured courtesans and that he is on his way to the village.

The rough-bearded man Iseul noticed eavesdropping on their conversation indicates that the king's finest swordsmen and archers guard them. He tells Iseul and her sister would both be killed. The innkeeper identifies the man as Wonsik ajusshi, guardian of the inn. Suddenly a young man, Yeongho, dressed in a red robe and golden sash, rushes into the inn, addressing the innkeeper as Madame Yul and tells her that a murder has just occurred outside the village. He states that the village elder believes the murder is the work of "Nameless Flower", an anonymous killer who has murdered twelve government officials. To prevent the visiting king from becoming enraged, the corpse has been moved to a reed field. Iseul believes if she can catch the killer she will be able to free her sister.

Inspecting the corpse Iseul determines that the man died from a blade to the throat. A red flower had placed on his chest and a bloody message scrawled on his robe. She also finds two wax beads, one yellow, one red, in the dead man's clenched hand. Iseul places the red bead inside her jolit mal (breastband). 

Wonsik and Madame Yul arrive to examine the body. Madame Yul reveals that Wonsik used to work for the Uigeumbu, as an Officer of the State Tribunal, investigating cases of treason. Iseul determines that Wonsik was not involved in her parents case. He tells Iseul that the victim is Young Master Baek, the eighteen-year-old son of the king's close aide, and was recently given a government position. Master Baek went missing three weeks earlier along with his two attendants both of whom died in the attack. 

Wonsik surmises that Iseul is determined to solve the crime to win the king's reward, that she is part of the yangban aristocracy, that her parents are deceased and that she is a fugitive. He tells her she will never succeed in bargaining with the king. However, he does explain that the king's courtesans live in Wongaksa Temple, near Gyeongbok Palace and is are heavily guarded. Every day the women are brought to the Sungyungwan Royal Academy to entertain the king. Iseul would be able to determine if her sister is there by looking over the wall. He knows this because his daughter was there. 

Iseul learns that Wonsik is investigating the murders, not for the reward, but for someone who believes the killings are causing more trouble in the city. With Wonsik helping, Iseul determines that the victim was injured when kidnapped, then starved for weeks. Their investigation is cut short with the arrival of the State Tribunal Officials, leading Iseul to flee into the woods. 

While hiding in the woods Iseul encounters Prince Daehyun, half brother to King Yeonsun. He had been part of the king's hunting party as they travelled through the hamlet. After killing a doe, the king declared that any of the princes who returned without a kill would be executed. So Daehyun is out hunting to prevent his own execution which had been foretold for this day by a shaman.  His arrow grazes Iseul's shoulder, pinning her to a tree by her jacket. However, Daehyun spares Iseul's life, ordering her to remain hidden when a guard approaches. The guard reveals that the king has murdered a dozen people while Daehyun was out hunting. 

Iseul returns to the Red Lantern Inn where Madame Yul treats her wound and tells her to consider the inn her home until she finds her sister but that she will have to help out at the inn. The next day Iseul sets out to find the Royal Academy in Hanyang, the capitol of Joseon, by travelling with a troupe of jesters. She travels with the help Yeongho.  In Hanyang, Iseul is shocked at the prevalence of death and destruction. With Yeongho's help, Iseul is able to enter the academy dressed as a servant and to locate Suyeon. She finds her sister cold and detached. Suyeon tells Iseul to return home and leave her, "There are over a thousand women here who wish to return home but cannot. This is the way of life for us. We are born to be devoured." She also tells her to find Uncle Choi Ikjan, to forget her, and to seek the life she has always wanted. 

As she is leaving the Royal Academy, Iseul impulsively attempts to rescue another girl being kidnapped by a chehongsa officer, stabbing him with a piece of wood and causing a riot. She is pulled to safety by Wonsik and taken to the inn to recover from her arrow wound. After five days of recuperation, Iseul begins helping Madame Yul by harvesting roots and bark in the woods. At the inn, Iseul learns that Wonsik plans to travel to Jamsil village to question the wife of one of Master Baek's attendants. Determined to find Nameless Flower, Iseul races to the village and learns from the widow that her husband described the attacker as "half man, half wolf". Wonsik shows up in Jamsil but admonishes Iseul, telling her she must notice the small things and to not take evidence from a crime scene.

Meanwhile Prince Daehyun learns from Hyukjin that he helped his sister, Sonhui procure kyungpo-buja for Lady Seungpyeong who has been found dead. Hyukjin reveals that Lady Seungpyeong was pregnant at age fifty with the king's child as a result of rape. Daehyun advises Hyukjin to remain silent and his sister not to flee. Prince Daehyun also learns that the girl he met in the forest has been found and he travels to the Red Lantern Inn where he finds Iseul. There he meets up with Wonsik who reveals that Min Hyukjin returned to his home but left immediately. Wonsik found a note in the handwriting of Nameless Flower telling Hyukjin that his sister was fleeing the palace. However, his sister was being interrogated at this time. Wonsik tells Daehyun that Hyukjin was last seen riding into Mount Acha. Wonsik and Daehyun believe that Hyukjin will be Nameless Flower's next victim as the king is due to pass through Mount Acha the next day.

Prince Daehyun and Wonsik leave immediately to try to locate Hyukjin, but are followed by Iseul. Her presence is explained to the prince but he is skeptical that she can succeed in her plan to bargain with King Yeonsan. Daehyun finds Hyukjin hanging from a tree but as he's cutting him down, he is attacked, and witnesses his friend being kicked over a cliff, before being knocked unconscious. Meanwhile, Wonsik and Iseul take shelter from the rain in a cave overnight. During this time, Wonsik suggests to Iseul that the stories she's heard about the prince are not true. 

At dawn, Wonsik is gone but hears the voices of the king's soldiers who have discovered Hyukjin's body, enraging the king. Investigator Gu explains that it was left where the king could see it and that the killer is someone within the palace who know of the king's change of plans to hunt earlier on Gwangneung Mountain. As the soldiers begin to search the area, Iseul stumbles upon a badly wounded Daehyun. Initially she refuses to help him  but he offers to help her free her sister. As the soldiers move up the hill searching, Daehyun and Iseul move quickly and hide. During the night Daehyun reveals to Iseul that he intends to stage a coup - a banjeong - a changing the heavens. 

The thought of bargaining with the tyrant King Yeonsan and trying to solve the mystery of Nameless Flower is daunting to Iseul and so she reluctantly agrees to become a part of the small group beginning to plot the coup with the promise that it will free her sister. For Iseul it will bring about revelations, loss and betrayal. But along the way she will discover the identity of Nameless Flower, save her sister, and find love and happiness with the person she least expects.

Discussion

A Crane Among Wolves is another well-written historical fiction novel that is set during the rule of the tyrant King Yeonsan in the early 1500s in Korea.

Prince Yeonsan was born November 23, 1476. When his father, King Seongjong's first wife, Queen Gongjye died, he took a concubine, Lady Yun, as his second wife and queen, in 1476. She gave birth to the king's heir, Yi Yung. However, Queen Yun was deposed and ordered into exile after striking the king and the incident discovered by the king's mother. Despite attempts to restore her as queen, she was exiled and eventually executed by poison.

Yi Yung grew up believing his mother was Queen Jeongyeon, his father's third wife. He became King Yeonsan, the tenth monarch of the Jeoson dynasty of Korea in 1495. Initially his reign was benevolent; he helped the poor and was a good administrator. However, in 1504 King Yeonsan learned the identity of his biological mother and her gruesome death from a scholar. He showed the king her bloodied robe that Lady Yun's mother had saved. Enraged, King Yeonsan began seeking vengeance, killing two concubines who were involved in his mother's murder, executing those government officials who supported his mother's exile and execution and even punishing those officials who were at the palace on the day of her execution. But his vengeance went much further than just executions.

He closed the royal university and converted it and an adjacent temple into a gisaeng, a place where thousands of kidnapped girls and women were taken to be used by the king. He also displaced tens of thousands of people in the capital, converting the area in to his personal hunting grounds. In 1506, the despotic king was overthrown by soldiers and officials in a coup that resulted in Yeonsan exiled to an island and his half brother Prince Jinseong made king.

This forms the background of the story crafted by June Hur in A Crane Among Wolves. Seventeen-year-old Iseul's parents were killed because her father was at the royal court when the queen was executed. Iseul learns that her Uncle Choi Ikjun of the Chungju Choe clan, gave their names so as to avoid being demoted in rank. With their parents now murdered, Iseul and her older sister Suyeon had to flee to their grandmother's home. It was at this time that Suyeon, who was very beautiful was kidnapped and taken to the king's palace where she was raped and forced into concubinage.

A Crane Among Wolves is historical fiction that combines both mystery and romance. Iseul believes if she can solve the mystery identity of the killer Nameless Flower she will be able to bargain with the king to free her sister. Nameless Flower is killing those near to the king. As she works with a former royal officer, Jang Wonsik, to solve the murders, Iseul also begins to fall in love with Prince Daehyun who is the half brother of the king and who decides to help her free her sister, while also planning a coup to depose King Yeonsan. Hur incorporates into her novel, many details of King Yeonsan's reign and life in Korea during this era.

The story in A Crane Among Wolves is told by two characters, Iseul and Prince Daehyun in alternating chapters. Iseul undertakes not only a physical journey to discover the whereabouts of her sister Suyeon and free her, but she also experiences an inner transformation that leads to growth and healing. She is initially motivated by guilt as she recalls how self-absorbed and uncaring she has been towards her older sister who always kind to her. Iseul recalls reading Suyeon's journal and being surprised how lonely her sister was, and that she struggled with always having to be the perfect daughter in order to be loved.  Iseul remembers how after the death of their parents, she refused to help Suyeon with chores, determined to preserve her hands and her pale skin, so she could make a good marriage. "My sister had labored for two years after our parents' passing, and I had let her, refusing to ruin my hands. This was not the life I was destined for, I had always said in protest."  Even Iseul's Uncle Choi remembers her as a girl who had little affection for her older sister and who would strike her for even a trifle. Although the two sisters had once been close, as they grew older they fought almost every day. It was during one of these arguments that Suyeon was seen and taken by the king, leading Iseul to blame herself.

Iseul is initially motivated by guilt but also love to find her sister. She discovers that her desire for a life of prosperity is replaced. Suyeon's absence "had stripped me bare, down to the very sinew of my being" and Iseul discovers she truly loves her sister, with a love that left her "...haunted and sleepless many nights..." When she is sees Suyeon in the Royal Academy, "her arms hanging limp by her side" with "the eyes of frightened yet weary girl" Iseul is feels Suyeon is "like a woman murdered". Haunted by her memories, Iseul remembers that Suyeon was a good daughter and kind sister and she becomes determined, despite the reluctance of Wonsik, Daehyun and even her uncle, to free her sister from the king. 

Iseul reveals herself to be a fearless, intelligent young woman, determined not to be confined by the limits Korean society has placed on her. Daehyun recognizes her rebellious spirit. She tells him "It is impossible not to be,...One is imprisoned by a thousand rules as a woman, and no one will explain why such rules exist."  She doesn't let her gender stop her from investigating the murders done by Nameless Flower, either following Wonsik as he travels or taking the initiative and investigating potential leads and new crime scenes. 

She exhibits courage in entering the Wongaksa Temple at great risk to herself to find her sister. She attacks a chehongsa officer, in an attempt to free a young girl being captured for the king. She bravely fights off the chehongsa officers when they try to kidnap her, and wants to stand and fight with Prince Daehyun and Wonsik when they are ambushed in the forest. She re-enters the Wongaksa Temple in a final attempt to help her sister flee during the coup and she bravely confronts Yeongbo in the forest.

Iseul and Prince Daehyun also experience  a transformation in their relationship. Their relationship starts out as one of mutual distrust but gradually evolves. Both carry the demons of regret and remorse over actions that caused harm to those they loved. Iseul believes she is solely responsible for the situation her sister Suyeon finds herself in but Prince Daehyun tells her that it is the responsibility of the king alone.  He reminds Iseul, "...sisters bicker and quarrel...yet when the other bleeds, you bleed too." He explains to Iseul, "That is family. So do not feel guilty for what occurred. None of it is your fault. Let the king, and the king alone carry the weight of all his crimes."

When they first meet in the forest, Iseul is disdainful towards Daehyun as he is part of the royal family that has ruined hers. Iseul doesn't trust him and believes he is cruel and despicable. She believes the stories about him having hunted down and murdered his foster brothers, Prince Anyang and Bongan. However, Daehyun explains to her that Lady Jeong and her sons were like family to him. The two brothers beat their own mother to death but did not know it was her. They were following the king's order. They fled but allowed Daehyun to capture them, requesting that he survive so as to seek revenge.  Iseul comforts Daehyun telling him that he was "simply honoring your brothers' wishes." 

Gradually Daehyun grows to love Iseul and proves this to her by not only saving her life several times, but also by attempting to intervene and prevent her sister from being given as a "gift" to Official Wu. His love for her is demonstrated by him taking the arrow that was meant for her when Yeongbo confronts them in the forest at Yongsan. Likewise Iseul grows to trust Prince Daehyun and love him. At great risk, she has Wonsik's son Gunwu take her to Yongsan District to warn Daehyun about Nameless Flower.

Hur realistically portrays the plight of the young girls and women who have been enslaved by King Yeonsan. Iseul's sister, Suyeon becomes physically and psychologically ill after sexual abuse by the king. When Iseul first finds her sister in the Royal Academy she notes "...there was a look in her eyes I had never seen before. They seemed the eyes of a frightened yet weary girl clinging to the edge of a cliff, her grip slipping, finger by finger." Iseul notes "A bruise the shape of a handprint wrapped around her throat." Suyeon tells Iseul that the girls including herself "...are born to be devoured...This is our fate."  However, Iseul refuses to accept this fate for Suyeon telling her she will free her.

Later when Iseul returns to the Royal Academy prior to the coup, she learns that Suyeon is ill. She is told "She hasn't been herself since she was last summoned by the king." She finds her sister listless, her eyes "empty, hollowed out". Suyeon, later, after having escaped the palace, reveals to Iseul that she helped one of the courtesans who was married and pregnant when she was kidnapped, give birth to her baby, only to learn the king had the woman and her newborn murdered. 

Hur also portrays the difficulties women who have been sexually abused have in re-integrating into society, a problem that still exists today in many societies. Iseul learns that her sister along with  all "...the king's women will be  distributed as gifts to all the government leaders who join us, and your sister will go to Official Wu." When confronted by Prince Daehyun, Choi tells him that "...the truth of the matter is, the girl - Iseul's sister - will no longer have a place in society. She is...the king's whore. She will be scorned for the rest of her life. But what an honor it is to become the respected concubine of a powerful man."  In 16th century Korea, women are mere objects to be possessed and distributed as prizes. 

Iseul refuses to accept this and prepares to enter the Wongaksa Temple disguised as a courtesan to rescue Suyeon, While waiting to enter, she witnesses the suffering of the parents of the stolen girls as they watch their beloved daughters: "...the mob huddling alongside the street...stared at the procession of beautiful women as though witnessing caskets of the murdered. A great weeping of sorrow and fury broke out. They reached past the crush of spears, reaching for their children. They were mothers and fathers who looked like my own, and there were sisters, too, bearing my own reflection."  Many of the courtesans are given to Commander Park after the coup, however, Iseul's sister and some of the women do escape and are helped to reclaim their lives at Madame Yul's Red Lantern Inn. They cannot return to their families or villages as they are considered "tarnished", a term Yul rejects.

The title, A Crane Among Wolves is a reference to two important cultural symbols in Korean society. The crane is a symbol of purity and strength, while the wolf represents power but is also a deadly predator, The crane represents Iseul, but especially her sister Suyeon and the women enslaved by King Yeonsan and his court, who are the wolves. Hur frequently describes these women as being "devoured" by the wolf, King Yeonsan as they are raped and abused, while politely being labelled courtesans. The crane also represents the truth, which Iseul is seeking, while to wolves are those who want to hide or devour the truth. 

A Crane Among Wolves is another excellent piece of historical fiction by June Hur. The characters are interesting and well developed. The character of Jang Wonsik is especially endearing as he helps Iseul channel her impetuous nature into a kind of measured maturity, encouraging her to seek the truth. The romance between Hwang Iseul and Prince Daehyun, gradually blossoms without overwhelming the main story. Wonderfully, the novel ends on a happy and satisfying note for the main characters, despite all the suffering, abuse and murder.

As noted in the Historical Note at the back, the author endeavoured to stay faithful to historical facts, portraying the success of the coup as limited. While King Yeonsan was deposed, the coup failed to help the people overall. And many of the former king's women were enslaved to other men, notably Deputy Commander Park who had a house built to house them. The only complaint is the use of an "f-bomb" by Prince Daehyun, a word likely not in the Korea vocabulary five hundred years ago. Nevertheless A Crane Among Wolves is high recommended.

Book Details:

A Crane Among Wolves by June Hur

New York: Feiwel and Friends     2024

359 pp.

The Red Palace by June Hur

The Red Palace is yet another outstanding historical fiction novel by author June Hur. This time the setting is 18th century Korea.

Baek-Hyeon (Hyeon) is an eighteen-year-old nae-uinyeo or nurse who works in the Hyeminseo, "a vast walled-in compound that held the medical office and its spacious courtyards." Hyeon and her fellow nurse, Jieun are called by Royal Physician Nanshin to accompany him from the Royal Apothecary to Joseung Pavilion, the main house in the Donggungjun compound. It is the residence of the Crown Prince, Prince Jangheon. 

There in a darkened chamber, Lady Hyegyoung, wife of the Crown Prince tells them that he has been feeling ill the past two days. However, when Hyeon glances up as Physician Nanshin examines the patient, she is shocked to see that it is the old eunuch in the bed and not the Crown Prince. 

Lady Hyegyoung remarks on how much Hyeon resembles the Crown Prince's deceased older sister, Princess Hwahyup. She also requests that both nurses continue to tend to the Crown Prince and if the king questions them, they are to tell him that his son is ill. Hyeon is uneasy about this lie and wonders, "Where had the real Prince Jangheon disappeared to?"

Suddenly Eunuch Choe arrives, informing Lady Hyegyoung that he has been unable to locate the Crown Prince as she had ordered him to do. He also brings news of a terrible massacre in the capital. Hyeon and Jieun are ordered to leave, but Hyeon overhears the eunuch state that four women have been murdered at the Hyeminseo.

At the Hyeminseo, Hyeon manages to lie her way in to see the crime scene, where she finds the bodies of the four murdered women covered by straw mats. Hyeon's examination of the bodies reveals nineteen-year-old student nurse Bitna, twenty-year-old Eunchae also a student nurse and the elderly Head Nurse Heejin, their throats all slashed. She also finds Court Lady Ahnbi who served Madame Mun, one of the king's concubines. Lady Ahnbi, who was dressed as a servant, had been killed by a single stab to the throat.

Commander Song questions Nurse Jeongu who insists that she saw nothing. Song, not believing her, orders Jeongu tied up and taken to the prison block. Meanwhile, Hyeon is confronted by a man she believes is a police servant. They argue about her presence and he threatens to take her to Commander Song. Hyeon explains that she is a nurse investigating the crime. After sharing some of what she's uncovered, Hyeon is helped by the police servant over the stone wall that encloses the Hyeminseo.

The next day Hyeon returns to the police station with a letter that she hopes will help Nurse Jeongsu. But on her way she sees that someone has put up handbills claiming the Crown Prince is a murderer. At the police bureau, Hyeon meets Nurse Inyeong who tells her she was the one who reported the murders. She tells Hyeon she encountered a frightened Lady Ahnbi running away and tried to follow her. Later on when she looked into the open gate of the Hyeminseo, she saw the murdered women.

Commander Song questions Nurse Jeongsu as to her whereabouts during the night as she was seen leaving her home around midnight and not returning.Jeongsu claims to have been out for a walk but she admits to having no alibi. Commander Song doesn't believe her, insisting she had an accomplice to help her plan and carry out the murders, and he has her taken away. 

Sulbi, a damo at the police bureau, tells Hyeon she believes Nurse Jeongsu is innocent and that Commander Song holds a personal grudge against her because Jeongsu was unable to save his wife and son during labour. She also tells Hyeon that anonymous handbills claiming the Crown Prince committed the murders at the Hyeminseo were posted all over the capital. Hyeon tries to have Sulbi give her letter to Commander Song but is interrupted by the arrival of her father, Lord Shin who works for the Ministry of Justice.

Hyeon is terrified of her father and hasn't spoken to him in five years. He tells her that the Commander will only be swayed by evidence and that her letter is useless. Lord Shin tells her to not to meddle and that as a "vulgar commoner", she has nothing to offer the investigation. After this encounter, Hyeon rips up her letter but remains determined to uncover evidence that will exonerate Nurse Jeongsu. Hyeon is devoted to her because it was Nurse Jeongsu who took her in after she was abandoned at the age of eight outside Gibang House in midwinter. 

The next day at Changdeok Palace, Physician Nanshin warns the palace nurses against indulging in the rumour about the Crown Prince. Nurse Inyeong and Hyeon volunteer to check on the king's concubine, Madame Mun and her infant daughter. It is during this visit that Hyeon learns more about Inyeong: that she was a damo for nine years so that she could continue serving in the police bureau in Gwangju to help with a murder investigation. The murder was solved and with the death of her mother, Inyeong finally passed the exams to fulfill her mother's dream of her becoming a palace nurse.

Madame Mun attempts to blackmail Hyeon into becoming a spy for her, threatening to tell the king anything she wants about her. She does tell Hyeon that a servant saw Physician Khun and Lady Ahnbi arguing.  Hyeon decides to pay a visit to Physician Khun's home but when she arrives, she finds the police servant is also there, this time disguised as a scholar. At the house, they discover a single garakji ring, implying that Physician Khun and Lady Ahnbi were in fact married. When Hyeon presses the servant, who has identifies himself as Seo Eojin, to tell the Commander of their find, he refuses telling her the Commander will only believe when they have discovered the real killer.

The police servant reveals his true identity as Police Investigator Seo Eojin, and asks Hyeon to work with him solve the mystery of the murders and uncover the truth of what happened in the Hyeminseo. As they draw closer to the truth, Hyeon and Eojin encounter political intrigue and unexpectedly... the blossoming of first love.

Discussion

The Red Palace is another well-written and engaging murder-mystery novel set during the reign of King Yeongjo (1694 to 1776) in the Joseon Dynasty.  Crown Prince Jangheon, also known as Crown Prince Sado, was the second son of King Yeongjo. He was born in 1735 to Lady Seonhui, a concubine of King Yeongjo. He lived in his own palace with his own eunuchs and staff. Prince Jangheon became heir to the throne when his older brother died prematurely. 

Prince Jangheon was married in 1744 to Lady Hyegyeong, whose accounts provide some of the information about his life. Their actual married life began when he was only fourteen-years-old. When he was ten-years-old, Prince Jangheon became seriously ill and it was around this time that his behaviour started to change. At times, the young prince seemed to be mentally unstable.

Sadly, his relationship with his father was strained. King Yeongjo was often critical of the young crown prince, scolding him publicly. It seemed the young prince could do nothing right. As time went on, the prince's erratic behaviour grew worse, further straining his relationship with his father.

His mental health deteriorated when his father's adoptive mother and wife, both of whom Jangheon was close to, died. He would beat his eunuchs, and once brought in the head of an eunuch he had murdered. He was known to kill palace staff and assault the ladies within the court. He was even physically and sexually abusive towards his own wife. 

In the summer of 1762, the situation was so dire, with threats of violence by Prince Jangheon, that King Yeongjo was persuaded to act. He ordered Prince Jangheon into a wooden rice chest which was then sealed. Eight days later it was opened and the Prince was dead. The king reinstated him as Crown Prince and he was renamed Sado.

In The Red Palace the events are set against the backdrop of palace intrigue and murder during King Yeongjo's reign. Palace nurse Baek-Hyeon is determined to save  Nurse Jeongju who has been her mentor and saved her life eight years earlier. She is relentless in her pursuit of the truth, taking great personal risks.

Hyeon, with the help of a young, police inspector, Eojin, risks everything she has worked towards, to prove her mentor's innocence. Along the way, Hyeon finds a true friend in Police Inspector Eojin Seo who treats Hyeon as his equal and with great respect and care. Hyeon is not used to this, especially since Eojin is "highborn" and therefore, her "better". As they work together to solve the murders, Hyeon finds their friendship blossoming into the beginnings of an unexpected romance.  

Hyeon's strained relationships with both her parents are an important driving force in her actions.  Hyeon dreads the disapproval of her father who has abandoned her mother and her family. To gain his approval she worked hard to become a palace nurse, often suffering nose bleeds due to a lack of rest. Hyeon believed if she could gain his approval, others would view her more favourably. However, her investigation into the murders sets her father against her. He repeatedly warns her to stop "meddling" and when Hyeon persists in her investigation, her father has her demoted and removed as a palace nurse and forces her family to leave his house. 

Hyeon also comes to realize that her belief that her mother doesn't love or care for her is not true. Hyeon has always felt anger towards her mother who seemed to favour her younger brother,  because he was a boy. Hyeon is certain her mother wanted a boy, but when Hyeon was born she was disappointed, so she gave her a boy's name. As an infant she was left to play in the dirt and be raised by a servant whereas her brother was carried in her mother's arms and provided tutors and treats.  

When Hyeon arrives home wounded, her mother tells her she must continue to investigate the murders, that she must be brave and continue to work to save Nurse Jeongsu. This is not how Hyeon expected her mother to act. Hyeon was certain her mother would be indifferent to her. Puzzled, Hyeon confronts her mother over the past and her abandonment outside Gibang House. Hyeon's mother tells her, "I wanted to raise you to be strong, to be prepared for the hardship that awaited you as woman of your status. Yet I almost crushed you instead, would have if Nurse Jeongsu had not intervened. I am forever grateful to her.She is more of a mother to you that I will ever be." Her mother encourages Hyeon to rejoin Inspector Seo, telling her that she is strong enough to continue. She informs Hyeon that she named her "...Baek, meaning eldest. And Hyeon, meaning 'virtuous, worthy, and able.'"

In the end, Hyeon more than lives up to her mother's expectations, while proving her father's belief that she is merely a "vulgar commoner" to be quite wrong. She courageously saves her own life and that of Eojin's, while helping to convince the murderer to confess. As a result she also exonerates the Crown Prince, earning the gratitude of the king. Her father however, is punished by the king for withholding the evidence as the Crown Prince's alibi. Despite how he has treated her, Hyeon asks the king to reinstate her father, rather than regaining her position as a palace nurse. She extends to her father the kindness and mercy he never offered her, but within her own boundaries. Hyeon no longer needs her father's approval. 

The Red Palace is another engaging novel that offers readers a window into court and political life in 18th century Korea. Hur's portrayal life during this period of  the Joseon Dynasty feels realistic, while providing readers with mystery, suspense and a touch of romance. Hur's novels are filled with a wealth of interesting characters: the main character is usually a strong, young woman who is intelligent and resourceful. Hur incorporates many cultural practices into her novels which helps develop the setting and atmosphere of her stories. Generally, Hur's novels have a wealthy of characters, and The Red Palace is no exception. What might be helpful to her readers is a list of characters at the front of the novel and a map of the palace buildings and compounds might also have been useful. 

The Red Palace is another wonderful novel, offering readers a unique cultural setting to explore. Overall, another stellar offering from this Korean-Canadian author. Readers will be awaiting Hur's next offering with great anticipation!!

Book Details:

The Red Palace by June Hur
New York: Feiwell and Friends     2022
321 pp.

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur

It is 1426, five years after the events in the ancient Gotjawal Forest. Eighteen-year-old Hwani is travelling to Nowon village on Jeju Island, a penal island for political prisoners.   She is disguised as a man and is travelling with her father's badly burned five-stitched black notebook. It was sent to her by a stranger named Boksun. How does Boksun know her father and why has she sent her the journal?

Hwani's father, Detective Min has disappeared on the island.Commander Ki told Hwani that her father had gone to Jeju to investigate the disappearance of several girls.

On the boat travelling from Mokpo port to Jeju, Hwani meets a middle-aged man who questions her about her journey. Without revealing her identity, she tells him that relatives of Detective Min have asked her to investigate his disappearance. He warns Hwani that she shouldn't listen to the rumours from the peasants in the village about their missing daughters. Hwani learns that this man is Magistrate Hong. He tells her that he told Detective Min that they girls were all pretty, tired of poverty and likely ran away to escape their lives.

Hwani wonders if she's been foolish in coming to Jeju. Commander Ki had declared her father dead after a twelve month investigation in which only the left sleeve of his outer robe had been recovered in Gotjawal Forest. She wonders though, why her father would care about this case since it's outside of his jurisdiction. But the note left in his chamber, questioning if a man can "undo his errors? Undo his sins?" bothers her.

Hwani becomes lost trying to find her way across Jeju Island to Nowon village. After asking an old woman for directions, Hwani asks about the village. The old woman tells her that thirteen girls have gone mission in the past four years but that recently an elderly resident saw the missing thirteenth girl running through the woods near Seonhul village. The girl, Hyunok did not return back to her parents ask expected and the woman thinks she may be dead.

With the old woman's directions, Hwani is able to remember the location of the shaman's hut. Hwani lived in Nowon for the first thirteen years of her life. She would visit Shaman Nokyung, the woman whom her sister Maewol was taken to by their father five years earlier at age ten.

When Hwani arrives at the jeomjip, the shaman tells her about a witness claiming to have seen one of the girls being taken by a man in a white mask. This immediately calls to mind the Forest Incident in which Hwani and her sister were found in the forest unconscious next to a dead girl. While Hwani remembers nothing, her sister saw a man in a white mask.  The shaman tells Hwani that her father returned to Jeju because he believed that Maewol as a witness, from the Forest Incident might be in danger. He hoped to solve the case. The shaman advises Hwani to return home, get married and live her life, that her father is dead.

However, later that evening the villagers arrive at the shaman's hut, asking that Shaman Nokyung come with them to Mount Halla where the body of the missing thirteenth girl has been found. Instead, Maewol and Hwani go. The victim's sister, Koh Iseul tells Hwani that a villager named Chul discovered Hyunok. They find her at the base of a cliff, face up. When Hwani and a man named Scholar Yu examine the body they find that Hyunok had been bound at the wrists and ankles.

As Hwani continues to investigate she learns from Maewol what really happened in the forest five years previous. She also begins to develop a list of potential suspects that include Convict Baek who was tied to Hyunok's family through a debt they owed him, Shaman Nokyung, Village Elder Moon who seems to have not been able to find enough evidence to convince the magistrate to act and Magistrate Hong who refuses to act.

But when Hwani with the help of Maewol begin to close in on the truth, events turn deadly. Can Hwani save herself, her sister and the missing girls?

Discussion

The Forest of Stolen Girls is the sequel to Hur's first novel, The Silence of the Bones. Set in fifteenth century Korea, the novel has as its basis the practice of human tribute, a practice in Asia of acknowledging a country's preeminence (usually but not restricted to China) through the payment of tribute. Hur explains the concept and practice very well in her Historical Note at the back of the novel. In thirteen-century Goryeo dynasty-era Korea, tribute was paid to the Mongol empire who ruled the country. Horses, fur and over two thousand Korean maidens were taken against their will as a form of tribute. When Mongul rule was followed by the Ming Dynasty in China, countries wishing to have a formal relationship with China were required to continue the tradition of paying the tribute. Korea was one of several countries who entered the tribute system. Once again, young Korean girls and women were taken against their will to the Ming dynasty. This practice in Korea ended in 1435.

Hur uses the practice of tribute as the event that triggers a series of disappearances and murders, including that of Hwani and Maewol's father, Detective Min. The story is a complex one that Hur adeptly weaves, leading readers to a thrilling resolution.The story is told by Hwani, a determined, intelligent young woman who amazingly survives attempted murder, poisoning by arsenic and a kidnapping. 

Set against the main story of Hwani attempting to determine her father's fate and unravel the connection between the missing girls and her family's encounter in the forest five years previous, is the devastating effect the tribute had on families in Korea. Families hid their young daughters, especially those who were considered very beautiful, father's scarred the faces of their beautiful daughters as Village Elder Moon had done, and bribes were offered to emissaries to save beloved daughters from the terrible fate. This later situation resulted in another girl being chosen to take her place. This is the situation Hwani uncovers in the village of Nowon.

A subplot is the sibling rivalry between Hwani and her younger sister, Maewol, supposedly abandoned by their father twice; once in the Forest Incident and then subsequently when it is believed she has a calling to be a shaman. This abandonment has resulted in the sisters not trusting one another when they are first reunited with Hwani's visit to Nowon. However, as they spend more time together, Hwani and Maewol begin to accept each other. Hwani, always believing their father loved her more, begins to realize that her father also deeply loved his younger daughter Maewol too. Together they solve the case of the missing girls and discover the fate of their father.

The Forest of Stolen Girls is highly recommended to fans of historical fiction as it explores a historical period in a country not often written about. As with her first novel, Hur does an excellent job of portraying fifteenth century Korea, populating her story with believable characters and creating exciting situations that engage the reader. The Forest of Stolen Girls has been nominated for the White Pine Award. 

Book Details:

The Forest of Stolen Girls by June Hur
New York: Fiewel and Friends Book      2021
369 pp.

The Silence Of Bones by June Hur

Sixteen-year-old Seol is working as a damo, an indentured servant, for the police bureau in Hanyang, the capital of Joseon. She has been indentured for her entire lifetime, until she is forty-one years of age. Seol's father was said to have died of starvation while her mother died jumping off a cliff near the sea. At the age of seven, Seol was the family servant of the Nams. Seol was the nobi servant of Lord Paek who sold her to a nearby police bureau in Inchon. Four days after her indenture at the police bureau, Seol tried to escape and was caught and branded on the left cheek with Hanja character, bi which means female servant. She had made a promise to Older Sister to stay in Hanyang and find their brother's grave. Her older brother Inho had promise to write her but the letters stopped and he is now presumed dead.

The novel opens with Seol aiding in the investigation of the body of a woman, found face down, next to the wall that encloses Hanyang. She is ordered by Inspector Han to look at the corpse. Men are forbidden by Confucious's law from touching women not directly related to them. This is why the Capital Police bureau have female servants like Seol.

The woman's silk clothing with richly embroidered hem and sleeves indicates she is a noble. Seol notes she has been stabbed in the neck, but Inspector Han observes that the woman's norigae, a tassel-like ornament and a jewel pin still in her hair, remain. This means the motive for the murder was not robbery.  In her examination, Seol finds that the knife belonging to the silver paedo knotted to the norigae is missing and is found beneath the victim's left shoulder. It is the murder weapon. The woman's identification tag, required by law of everyone in the Joseon kingdom, indicates she was Lady O, daughter of Cabinet Minister O and only nineteen-years-old.

Seol accompanies Inspector Han to the Northern District, home to high ranking officials in Hanyang. Lord O is not home and Matron Kim is ill but the gate keeper reluctantly lets them in. Inspector Han has Seol interview Lady O's personal maid, Soyi. In the inner mansion Seol questions Soyi who tells her that she saw a man in her mistress's room. Soyi, who was taught to read by Lady O, tells Seol about a letter that arrived yesterday morning before her death. The letter told Lady O to meet at the Hour of the Rat. The writer instructed Lady O to burn the letter. 

In the Capital Police Bureau, Seol is instructed by Officer Kyon to lift the body of Lady O onto the table. Kyon tells Seol that all the corpses in the past week were moved to another region by Commander Yi to avoid autopsy, and their killers acquitted or lightly punished. This is because they were all Catholics, followers of the forbidden Western teaching which could result in execution. Seol wonders, "What was it about this teaching called Catholicism that terrorized the culprits enough to kill their own servants, their own children?" 

Eavesdropping outside the examination room Seol listens as Damo Hyeyeon conducts the autopsy. Lady O's death occured around midnight. Despite the watchman patrolling, the killer took the time to cut off her nose. Commander Yi believes the murder was one of vengeance.

Seol accompanies Officer Kyon and Inspectory Han to Mount Inwang where Maid Soyi has fled. Inspector Han located Soyi but they encounter a tiger. When Officer Kyon freezes, Seol grabs his weapon and shoots the tiger in the side. This causes her pony, Terror to bolt with the tiger in pursuit, throwing Seol down an embankment and knocking her senseless. When she awakes, Seol encounters a mysterious lady dressed as a man.The lady tells Seol that they passed the officers earlier who mentioned they were missing a damo. She indicates that if Seol wishes to flee she may do so, as she does not believe in indentured servitude, since this is a form of oppression. But Seol tells her she will return to the police bureau. The woman mystifies Seol who notices that she carries a beaded necklace with a misshapen wooden cross.

Back at the police bureau, Inspector Han gives Seol a norigae and promises that when the investigation is over, he will giver her what she most wants, to return home. The next morning, Seol is informed that Inspector Han is now interrogating Soyi after Commander Yi had her beaten for running away. During questioning Soyi tells Inspector Han that she saw a man on horseback wearing a blue robe just before dawn. After Soyi is taken back to the prison block, Seol is questioned by Master Ch'oi Jinyeop, the son of Third State Councillor Ch'oi. He was betrothed to Lady O when they were children.The young master was at the House of Bright Flowers and has an alibi.

Seol visits Maid Soyi in her prison cell to help clean her wounds. Soyi tells Seol that Lady O promised to give her her nobi deed, freeing her because she was a rogue Catholic who didn't believe in the indentured system. She believes Lady O's lover murdered her. As she leaves the police bureau, Seol is summoned to meet Lady Kang at her mansion in the Northern District by her servant, Woorim. Lady Kang is concerned that Seol may have told the inspector about the books in her cart when they met in the forest. These books are copies of one book. Kang tells Seol that she in convinced the Heavenly Father loves her. Seol knows Lady Kang to be a Catholic and when she questions her about the recent deaths of many Catholics, Lady Kang tells her that they were people who refused to apostatize this foreign learning" but that after the five month formal mourning period before the king's burial, there will be a persecution. Every five households will be grouped together and if a Catholic is found in any one, all will be found guilty of treason. It will not only wipe out the Catholics but also the queen regent's opposition as well. She tells Seol that the "Southern scholar-officials were among the first to spread Catholicism when it was smuggled in." While it was spread as a way to reform society, the regent believes it to be a way to regain power in the government. Lady Kang advises Seol to be careful, that she should not jump to conclusions, to examine the evidence, and that she has a responsibility to care for lives. Lady Kang tells Seol she can read people and warns her that when she needs help, to seek her out.

Back at the police bureau, Inspector Han  meets with Commander Yi who asks him about Councillor Ch'oi's visit.  Councillor Ch'oi fears the regent's intent to purge the Southerners. He wants protection and is willing to obtain it by capturing the only priest of Joeseon, Zhou Wenmo. However, Inspector Han has no intention of letting Ch'oi help in the priest's capture.

That night, Officer Kyon brutally attacks Seol, punishing her for shaming him in the forest, by shooting the tiger. He also reveals that he has testimony from an eyewitness that "Inspector Han was the blue-robed man who crossed paths with Maid Soyi." This revelation stuns Seol who has developed a deep loyalty to the inspector. Filled with disbelief, Seol seeks to prove Inspector Han's innocence, but this only leads to more questions and intrigue.

As things become more complicated with another murder, Seol soon has a host of potential suspects and a startling discovery about Inspector Han to consider. But can she uncover the truth before another murder happens?

Discussion

The Secret Of Bones is a complex and engaging murder mystery set in the Joseon era of Korea. The novel weaves together a collection of stories, linked by the murder of a young Catholic woman in the city of Hanyang. There is the story of Lady O, the daughter of Madam Kim and Councillor O who has been murdered and who is a Catholic but who had a secret lover and bore an illegitimate child. There is the story of Seol, whose parents are both dead, and who is now an indentured servant in the police bureau in Hanyang, but who is also determined to find her older brother Inchon who left almost twelve years earlier. There is the story of Inspector Han, who seems to be implicated in the murder he's investigating and who also seems to be possibly connected to Seol. And there is the story of a young man, the illegitimate son of a Councillor, who seeks to repudiate his shame by hunting down a Catholic priest and therefore restoring some honour to his name.

This novel would have done well to have offered readers a bit of backstory to the Joseon kingdom in the form of a prologue, as it's unlikely most teens or adults will be familiar with this era. However, Hur does incorporate  the main points of Catholic history into her story, through her characters.

The Joseon Dynasty was founded near the end of the fourteenth century when General Yi SEong-gye overthrew the Goryeo dynasty and founded a new one. The Joseon dynasty was based out of the city of Hanyang which today is called Seoul. It was chosen as the capital by King Taejo who was responsible for building Gyeongbokgung Palace and the Jongmyo Shrine. He also adopted the use of identification tags called hopae.

As Hur indicates in her Author's Note at the back, the story is set just prior to the Shinyu Bakhae of 1801, the first major persecution of Catholics in Korea. During the Joseon Dynasty, Korean society was based on Confucianism which stressed certain virtues such as loyalty, and duty as well as ancestor worship. Society in Korea was comprised of the nobility and scholars, with most Koreans being commoners or slaves.

Catholicism was brought to Korea, not by priests, but by the laity, sometime during the 17th century. Despite being a very isolated kingdom, Korean scholars were exposed to Catholicism through literature they obtained from China. European missionaries brought Catholic books which were translated to China. Because Catholicism presented a different social structure with a de-emphasis on class and no adherance to ancestral worship, it was seen as a threat to Korean society and was outlawed in the Kingdom of Joseon in 1758 by King Yeongjo. By 1776, western books were banned.

Despite this, Catholicism grew. In 1784, Peter Yi Seung-hun became the first Korean to be baptized into the Catholic faith, travelling to Peking, China to receive the sacrament.  He returned to Korea and began evangelizing his countrymen, and despite having no priest to minister to them, the community grew. In 1791, the first Catholics were executed and martyred for their faith, because they refused to perform the ancestral rites. 

When a priest finally did arrive in the Kingdom of Joseon, there were over four thousands Catholics. The first Catholic missionary, Father Chou Wen-Mu (Father Zhou Wenmo) arrived in Seoul, in 1795. Within six months, Father Wenmo was actively being pursued by the authorities and so Lady Kang Wansuk helped to hide him. By the turn of the century, there were over ten thousand Catholics in Korea.

The novel is set after 1791 and just prior to the coming persecution known as the Sinyu Persecution. Several of the characters The Secret of Bones were real, historical figures; Queen Jeongsun, Lady Kang and Father Zhou Wenmo. Queen Jeongsun had married King Yeongjo when she was very young, only fifteen years old. When he died she became Queen Dowager Yesun. When King Yeongjo's son, Yi San died at the age of forty-nine, his son, Yi Gong was to be come king but he was only ten years old. Queen Jeongsun became Grand Queen Dowager, acting as regent for the young king. It was Queen Jeongsun who began the Sinyu Persecution in 1801. The persecution may have been partially instigated by a letter sent and intercepted, asking for Western military intervention in Joseon. In the novel, Lady Kang's daughter Sunhui refers to this letter as the "Silk Letter". 

The main character, Seol is a well crafted heroine: determined, courageous and loyal. It is her relentless pursuit of the truth that drives the investigation forward, ultimately placing her in mortal danger. Unknowingly, her pursuit of the truth also leads her through a voyage of self discovery, forcing her to face her family's past and how what happened may now be playing a part in the events of the present.  It is a story of retribution, revenge and forgiveness. Because there are four or five storylines woven together, this gives the author plenty of opportunity to incorporate unexpected twists into the plot, which keeps her readers fully engaged. 

Overall, The Secret of Bones is a well written novel, complex with many layers to the plot. A map of the city of Hanyang and the outlying areas might help readers and a more attractive cover might be worth reconsidering, to draw readers into this gem of a novel. Look for more in the future from this accomplished Korean-Canadian author.

Book Details:

The Secret of Bones by June Hur
New York: Feiwel and Friends   2020
320 pp.

Gathering of Pearls by Sook Nyul Choi

"Tough times are the times when one gathers one's pearls."

Gathering of Pearls is the last book in Choi's three part series about a young woman's life in Korea and her journey to America.

It is September, 1954 and Sookan Bak has just arrived at Idlewild Airport (now known as John F. Kennedy International Airport) in New York, after a lengthy plane trip across the Pacific. Sookan has achieved her dream of coming to study in America where she will be attending Finch College, an all-girls Catholic college in New York. She feels tired, overwhelmed and nervous. Everything is so much larger and busier than Seoul, Korea. Sookan is struck by how tall and openly affectionate Americans are. Adding to her worries is the fact that the students who were supposed to meet her at Idlewild are not there. Anxious, Sookan calls Sister Casey at Finch College and gets instructions to the college. So begins her four years in America.

When she arrives at Finch College, Sookan's self-consciousness over her black hair and yellow skin is not eased by Sister Casey's request that she wear her native dress, called a hanbok to dinner. However, the girls at the college are delighted and Sookan meets her roommate, Ellen Lloyd, a tall, blonde outgoing girl. Sookan and Ellen get acquainted, with Sookan telling Ellen how her older sister who is a nun did not want her to come to America and Ellen showing Sookan a picture of her boyfriend, Lyle who is a student at Princeton. Sookan is impressed by Ellen's plans for her life, to marry Lyle and have four children, two boys and two girls.

Sookan plans an ambitious academic schedule, selecting world literature, world religions, Greek and Roman culture and early European history. She knows this will be challenging but she is determined to succeed. Sookan also meets another girl at the school, Marci Gannon, who is very different from Ellen. Marci is quiet, loves to read books and has a somewhat boyish look. Marci believes she looks and sounds awkward but Sookan reassures her that she is just fine.

Sookan receives her first letter from her mother which makes her feel homesick but she also discerns that things are difficult for her family in Korea. Her mother both encourages her, having faith that she will succeed and also tells her not to worry about the family back home.

As the term wears on, Sookan finds it increasingly difficult to keep up with her heavy course work and manage her outside commitments. For scholarship work she is assigned to serve the evening dinner shift and she's also asked to speak about Korea to the Girl Scouts Club. She also agrees to babysit the children of Professor Bennett on weekends.

As Sookan becomes better friends with both Marci and Ellen, she begins to realize that they  have similar problems with family expectations, despite the difference in their cultures and traditions.
In Ellen's situation, her problems center around her growing relationship with her boyfriend Kyle, whom she is convinced she will marry. Possibly knowing her parents will not support her decision to become involved with a boy so young, Ellen keeps her relationship a secret.

Marci tells Sookan that her father wants her to study science and eventually take over his chemical company, Gannon Chemical,  something she has absolutely no interest in. Marci feels disconnected from her parents who seem to adore her older sister, Susan, who is outgoing, popular and who shares similar interests with their parents.

Sookan especially understands Marci's predicament because it mirrors her own feelings, especially towards her older sister Theresa, although she is shocked to hear Marci voice them. Letters from Theresa who is a nun, seem to highlight this disconnect the Sookan feels too. Instead of encouraging her as their mother had done, Theresa chides Sookan for neglecting to send her the pages of her personal journal so she could read them, as she agreed to do and for neglecting their goal of  helping people. Theresa, whom everyone looks up to, considers Sookan's dream of studying overseas to be a waste of time. All this leaves Sookan conflicted and feeling as though she has neglected to do her duty and has disobeyed her older sister. Although she has assumed she would one day be a nun like Theresa, now she is not so sure.

Before leaving for Christmas holidays at Marci's home, Sookan receives two letters from home, one from her mother and the other from her sister, Theresa. The two letters bear different news and opinions. From her mother, Sookan gets a letter that encourages her to patient, that trying to do everything according to both Korean and American tradition will not be possible. On the other hand, Theresa's letter tells about her unending hardships at the convent, criticizing Sookan's behaviour and questioning her maturity to be away from home. Sookan must struggle to fit in at school while at the same time try to retain the values that her family back in Korea value.

Discussion

Gathering of Pearls while telling an interesting story about a young woman who comes to America to follow her dream of getting a good education and breaking free of the restrictions her culture places on her, is more a coming of age story. The themes of recognizing the wisdom parents have to offer their children, and acceptance are also explored.

Like Marci and Ellen, Sookan is faced with a family member who does not understand her or what she might want in life. In Sookan's case it is her older sister, while with Ellen and Marci it is their parents. How all three girls deal with this timeless problem is a major theme in the novel. Marci rebels violently against her father who wants her to study chemistry, a subject she is neither good at nor enjoys. She believes her father hates her, but Sookan, an outsider sees that he merely wants her to enjoy what he can provide for her. Ellen on the other hand, feels her parents won't let her make her own decisions about her life despite the fact that she is only eighteen years old. Sookan eventually comes to her own realization about her sister through her mother.

When Sookan returns to school after Christmas break, Sister Reed meets with her to change her schedule, telling her they are very impressed with all her accomplishments. She also gives Sookan a beautiful pearl necklace, a necklace her aunt wanted to be given to an extraordinary young woman. Later on when the pearl necklace breaks, Sookan is reminded of something her mother told her.

"She used to say that women are like oysters. Just as an oyster takes an irritating grain of sand and creates a pearl around it, a woman can take a painful experience and enrich herself by creating something precious from that pain. We take in the misery and bitterness, but instead of letting it poison us, we turn it into a precious pearl....
I cleaned each pearl and thought of my mother. She had suffered so much, and she had made herself richer for it. She was rich in understanding and love...."

When tragedy strikes her family and Sookan learns of the death of her mother, she is utterly devastated. Father Lee travels from Korea and tells her a particular strength that her mother possessed.

"'You know, Sookan, what made your mother so special was her ability to accept people. She firmly believed that one was born with one's nature. One could try to change but would ultimately remain the same. Because she believed this so firmly, she appreciated people for their strengths. She managed to overlook their weaknesses and never criticized them. She also believed that each person was born with a destiny. She never tried to impose her will on any of her children. She wanted each of you to pursue your own path.... She wanted you to live your own life and, most of all, to be happy.'"

Later on, her younger brother, Inchun, sends Sookan their mother's reading glasses. She also receives a letter from her sister that reeks of resentment that she is not there for their mother's funeral. Sookan recognizes this but also remembers her mother's way of thinking. Inchun's gift of their mother's reading glasses to Sookan is a reminder to her to look at people the way her mother did - with understanding, acceptance but also to realize that she must make her own choices and her own life and not necessarily do what her sister or others might believe she should do.

"I realized I must accept my sister, as my mother had done. Nothing would change her, not even Mother's death. I saw now that she had her own shortcomings, insecurities, and anxieties. It was my responsibility to try to understand her as a human being." 

Sookan recognizes that her sister does care for her but that she need not obey her. This gives her the freedom to accept her sister and to love her.

Gathering of Pearls is a wonderful conclusion to this beautifully crafted autobiographical trilogy. Readers will learn a little about the history of Korea and its culture, the values placed on family responsibility and duty. Sookan is gentle, thoughtful narrator who realistically conveys to readers all of this.


Book Details:
Gathering of Pearls by Sook Nyul Choi
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company    1994
163 pp.

Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi

Echoes of the White Giraffe is the second book in Sook Nyul Choi's books about a young girl and her family living in Korea during the first half of the 20th century.

Echoes of the White Giraffe begins in the year 1950. Fifteen-year-old Sookan is now living in Pusan with her younger brother Inchun and her mother after having barely escaped from the bombing of Seoul by the Korean and Chinese Communists. Sookan and her family had reunited after their daring escape out of Northern Korea which was occupied by the Russians who had driven out the Japanese occupiers. Sookan, her best friend Bokhi, Inchun, Teacher Yun and many other refugees had all played a part in building a school so that they could return to their studies. Teacher Yun and other teachers who had escaped from Seoul when the war started eight months ago are eager to help the students catch up.

Sookan misses her "beautiful brick Ewha School with its sparkling classrooms and its beautifully tiered garden." But she also misses her family home in Seoul. As refugees Sookan and her mother and brother live in a small wooden shack at the top of the mountain near Pusan. In their flight from Seoul they became separated from her father and three older brothers and haven't heard anything since then.

One morning Sookan is awoken by the loud yelling of a man on the opposite side of the mountain, telling everyone to wake up. Curious to see who the man is, Sookan races to the top of the mountain and yells back at him. She asks him if he is a mountain poet and calls this unknown man her "shouting poet". His yelling is a daily ritual that awakens the refugees.

Sookan settles into life in Pusan. Her family are Catholics and they attend Father Lee's morning and Sunday Masses. She also sings in the choir which is directed by Haerin Min, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Lim, the town doctor. The choir is made up of members from Pusan High School for Boys, Pusan Girls' School and also the refugee students from Seoul. 

Sookan doesn't much like Haerin, after the disdainful way she treated Sookan and her family when they first arrived in Pusan, looking down on them because they are refugees. Sookan spends a great deal of time with the choir, practicing every Saturday and singing at four Masses on Sunday. It is in the choir that she first meets Haerin's oppa or brother, Junho. Sookan finds seventeen-year-old Junho to be very handsome. Because their voices harmonize so well together, Haerin places Junho and Sookan together in the center of the choir, having them sing duets together.

One Sunday after Mass, Haerin catches up with Sookan as she walks home and questions her about her escape from the war in Seoul. Haerin's insensitive questioning makes Sookan uncomfortable but when Junho manages to meet with them Sookran tells him about her life in Pyongyang, North Korea. Despite Junho's kind remarks Sookan feels humiliated.

Sookan's time in Pusan is punctuated by several tragedies. Her best friend, Bokhi who lives with her aunt, learns that her parents died in the bombing of Seoul. Bokhi is so distraught that she does not return to school for days. Sookan stays at her house to try to encourage Bokhi to accept her parent's deaths and to realize that living her life well will please them. Eventually she manages to get Bokhi to come to see Teacher Yun who helps her cope. But when Sookan returns to her home on the red mountain the next morning she oversleeps. It is then that she realizes that she has not heard the shouting poet that morning and learns from her mother that he has died. Sookran's mother takes her to his grave where they discover his name was Baik Rin which means "white giraffe".

As time passes, Sookan and Junho develop a special friendship. When Sookan misses several days of school because of Bokhi and the death of Baik, Junho comes to visit her on the mountain. Under normal circumstances it would not be proper for Junho to stay to visit Sookan but because he is caught in a heavy downpour, Sookran's mother, recognizing the attraction between the two,  suggests he stay. This gives them a chance to really talk. Sookran tells him how her family came to escape Seoul and travel to Pusan. Junho asks Sookan what her plans are after she finished high school and she tells him that she wants to study history in America, then return to Korea to become a nun with her sister Theresa. This revelation disturbs Junho and as the rain has ended he quickly leaves.

Junho arranges for he and Sookan to have their picture taken together - something that is considered highly improper. When Junho receives the pictures, he secretly passes one onto Sookan but Haerin, jealous of Sookan's relationship with her brother, informs their parents. Junho's mother is furious and yells at Sookan's mother but Dr. Min is more tolerant understanding the innocent nature of their relationship.

With the signing of the armistice, once again dividing Korea in to the communist North and the democratic South, Sookan, Inchun and their mother return to Seoul where they find the three older boys at their badly damaged home. Eventually they learn that their father was killed in the bombing of Seoul. Amidst this loss, Sookan decides that she will study hard so she can apply to colleges in America. But in doing so it will mean leaving behind the young man she truly loves.

One day Junho comes to visit her in Seoul. He is now enrolled in Dongkuk University where he is studying literature. Junho tells Sookan that after finishes his studies he will enter the seminary to become a priest. This leads Sookan to wonder whether he has decided to enter the seminary because she told him she was going to become a nun or whether this was always his plan.

Sookan works diligently passing her exams and prepares to leave for America but before journeying overseas she decides to visit Jonhu. Unable to see him one last time, Sookan must believe that it is because they are "everlasting friends".

Discussion

Echoes of the White Giraffe is a beautifully written story that explores the themes of identity, forbidden love, and hope. This short novel manages to portray the uncertainty of life during the Korean conflict and the life of a refugee in a realistic, somewhat reserved way. The story is narrated by Sookan who reveals that her family was reunited in Seoul in 1945 and settled into a beautiful home at the base of Namsan Mountain. All this changes five years later when they are forced to flee from Seoul, their family becoming separated once again and Sookan, her mother and younger brother Inchun, crammed onto a boat which takes them to the southern tip of the Korean peninsula, to Pusan. In the first part of the novel Choi effectively portrays the uncertainty, fear and humiliation of Sookan's situation as a refugee.

Choi makes special use of mountains in her story as a symbol of safety and hope. When Sookan and her family flee to Namsan mountain in Seoul, the mountain is a source of protection and safety. The red-brown mountain they live on in Pusan, along with other refugees, symbolizes the obstacles they now face as refugees within their own country. They have no home, no relatives and an uncertain future. Climbing the mountain at the end of each day for Sookan seems almost impossible. The red mountain mud stains their shoes and their clothing, and climbing is sometimes so difficult that "On rainy days, we had to get down on all fours to climb up the muddy, treeless mountainside." Sookan states that the "red mud caked on my shoes made me feel very heavy." Their new life in Pusan is represented by this mountain. Sookan describes their home as "one room made of four thin plywood walls with a sliding door separating a small kitchen area from the main part..." When she looks down the mountain she is afraid seeing "dark shadows moving about. Feeling afraid that the dark valley might swallow me..."

However, the mountain provides them with a symbol of hope and also comes to represent how their lives gradually change as they overcome various obstacles. It is on the mountain that Sookan hears the man she calls the "shouting poet" who yells every morning "Hello, all you refugees on these mountains. Rise and shine. Remember it is a new day, a brand new day. Hello, hello." His voice reverberates over the mountain and Sookan notes that he makes the word "refugees" sound sweet; "The word "refugee" rang as melodiously as all the other words, not sounding as cold and ugly as it had the first time I heard it..." The shouting poet gives them all hope reminding them that each day is fresh, a new start.

But as life carries on and Sookan settles into a routine of attending school, hearing Mass and singing, she one day realizes that the mountain too has changed. "The mountain was not so difficult to climb as it used to be. The path up the hill had become worn and smooth from constant use. In some of the steep areas that were difficult to climb, people had dug little footholds that made it more like climbing a ladder". This description can be applied to Sookan's life which has now become a bit easier, with the refugees helping one another. Even the shacks now look different from one another, some with "tall yellow sunflowers, while another had morning glories scaling the walls and climbing the roof. Another had rows of tin cans blossoming with pansies and marigolds... It was as if each little house were furiously competing to be the prettiest, most cheerful one on the mountain." The shouting poet has done his work, he has passed on hope to the refugees on the mountain and that is reflected in their homes and their lives.

Choi's writing is very sensual, evoking the sights, sounds and smells of Sookan's world whether it be in Pusan or Seoul. The descriptions are poetic and beautiful, capturing the world around them, "We walked all the way to the jagged black rocks that jutted into the sea. In gloomy silence, we watched the waves crash violently onto the rocks, filling the air with cold, gray mist."

Sookan is shown to be a sensitive thoughtful girl who develops a chaste attraction to Junho. She rebels mildly against the strict norms of her culture which dictate that men and women do not mix in public and that unmarried men and women do meet unchaperoned. Sookan cannot bring herself to tell Junho how she truly feels, no matter how many times they meet, leaving her wondering what could have been. In the end, her one final attempt to see him goes ungranted making it seem as Junho said that they would be "everlasting friends". Sookan must come to accept Junho's decision to enter the priesthood as he had accepted her decision to travel overseas to study with the intent to eventually enter the convent.

There's also the lovely theme of faith woven through in this novel as Sookan and her mother attend Mass and find hope through their faith. Choi achieves her purpose well in this novel, explaining some of Korea's 20th century history, and portraying the culture of Korea, the resilience and determination of its people in difficult times to young readers. Echoes of the White Giraffe is the second of three autobiographical novels written by Sook Nyul Choi is a novel filled with tragedy and loss, but also hope and acceptance.

Book Details:
Echoes of the White Giraffe by Sook Nyul Choi
New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing   1993
137 pp.

Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyul Choi

This is the first in a trilogy of books written by Sook Nyui Choi who was born in Pyongyang, North Korea in order to share her experiences in this turbulent period of history. Choi writes, "Having lived through this turbulent period of Korean history, I wanted to share my experiences. So little is known about my homeland, its rich culture and its sad history." Choi wanted "to write this book to share some of my experiences and foster greater understanding."

It is 1945 and World War II continues to rage on. For the Koreans, it means continued occupation by Imperial Japan, which is fighting against the American's to retain control over much of the Pacific and South Asia.

Nine year old Sookan lives with her family in Kirimi, Pyongyang. Her father and older brothers, Hanchun, Jaechun and Hyunchun have been taken away, while her younger brother, seven year old Inchun lives with her and her mother and her Aunt Tiger. Her older sister, Theresa is a nun in a convent just outside of Pyongyang.  Sookan's grandfather is a Buddhist but her mother is Roman Catholic. 

Sookan's Grandfather has been teaching her to read and write in Korean and Chinese  and she has also been learning about the ancient Korean kingdoms - all for this forbidden by the Japanese. Instead they are forced to worship at the Shinto temple and to pray for victory over the "White Devils" - the Americans.

In the backyard of their home is a large wooden shack which was built by the Japanese and serves as a factory making socks for the Japanese soldiers. Sookan's cousin, Kisa is a mechanic who greases the knitting machines so the "sock girls" can churn out the required quota of socks for the Japanese. Captain Narita comes daily to inspect the factory and the workers. Sookan is friends with many of the girls including Haiwon and Okja. Sookan, her mother and Aunt Tiger work with the sock tubes, cutting them and turning them in to tube socks.

In June, 1945, Sookan's mother returns from a visit with Theresa with a small Christian book as a gift for Haiwon's birthday. The next day during her birthday party and before the workday starts, Captain Narita arrives earlier than usual. He takes Haiwon's birthday gifts as well as Sookan's mother's brass dishes.Aunt Tiger is certain this is not the end of it when Narita leaves. That afternoon two Japanese-trained Korean police arrive and chop down Grandfather's pine tree that he meditates under. This is so devastating to Grandfather that he never leaves his bedroom and eventually dies. Before he dies he asks his daughter, Sookan's mother to tell them about their family.

Sookan's mother tells how Grandfather was a scholar before Japan occupied Korea. Once occupied, all Koreans were encouraged to dress like the Japanese and to speak Japanese. Sookan's mother tells them that after the Japanese cut off Grandfather's topknot, they burned their village, resulting in the death of her two brothers and her mother. They escaped to Manchuria where her grandfather and Sookan's father  where part of the independence movement and where they published a newspaper in Hangul. She met Sookan's father in Manchuria and they were married there and had the four oldest children then. Only Inchun and Sookan were born in Korea. Father Carroll an American priest said Mass for all the Korean Catholics who were forbidden to go to church. He baptized all of Sookan's family but eventually he was discovered and had to leave Korea.

Grandfather's death is not the only terrible event to happen. Several days after his death, Captain Nakita comes to inspect the factory and tells Mother that the girls are not working hard enough and that they will be sent to "help the soldiers fight better". Sookan does not know what this means but her mother his horrified as are Haiwon and Okja. Sadly this comes to pass, and one night Captain Narita shows up with a truck and the girls are forced into the truck and taken away.

Sookan is sent to school after this only to discover that it is nothing more than indoctrination and a work camp. She is not allowed to use her Korean name, speak Korean or help other students. However, her time at school is shortlived and Sookan is quickly expelled.

In August, with the defeat and surrender of the Japanese, they begin to leave Korea. It is an anxious time for Sookan and her family as they await the expected arrival of the Americans and hope to hear about husbands, fathers and sons. They soon learn that the Americans and Russians have divided Korea at the 38th parallel with the Russians taking the northern part of the country.

At first the Korean people welcome the Russians, however, Sookan's mother is skeptical. Sookan remembers Grandfather's distrust of the Russians who he felt wanted to "own Korean just as the Japanese and the Chinese had."  Mother learns from the nuns at the convent that many Koreans are now attempting to flee to the south.

As the Russian Communists settle in and begin indoctrinating the local Korean population, it becomes evident that Sookan's family must leave. With the help of Kisa they make arrangements to flee to the south. Kisa tells Sookan's family that their father and brothers have fled to the South safely and that they will meet them there. Arrangements are made and tearful goodbyes made to Kisa and Aunt Tiger who must remain behind to deflect suspicion away from Mother, Sookan and Inchun. Will they be able to make the treacherous journey south across the 38th parallel to freedom?

Discussion

Choi's short novel for children effectively portrays life in a country long under foreign occupation. The children suffer just as the adults do from privation, lack of education and destruction of their culture and their links to their past. In spite of this, Sookan's family secretly tries to preserve their culture, teaching the younger children their language and history and hiding important keepsakes and heirlooms. The Japanese however, make this increasingly difficult by starving the Korean population so that eventually all of their most precious links to their past are given up in order to survive.

A strong theme throughout the novel is perseverance. All of Sookan's family persevere through the  terrible living conditions and the loss of family and the sock girls. This perseverance is demonstrated most admirably at the end of the novel when Inchun and Sookan are abandoned by the "guide" who is supposed to lead them across the border. Despite losing their mother, and desperate to get to freedom, they overcome starvation, physical exhaustion and injury, and emotional trauma, against enormous odds.

The themes of faith and forgiveness also permeate the novel. Sookan's mother is Catholic and she has continued to pray for the safety of her husband and sons. When Kisa tells her they are safe, Mother states, "I knew my God would not desert me. I knew He was listening to all our prayers."  Despite the terrible things done to them, Grandfather and Aunt Tiger manage to forgive. Grandfather tells Inchun and Sookan "I do not feel bitter about what happened. I am not angry anymore." after what happened to his beloved pine tree. It is more important that his grandchildren learn about their family and their past. Aunt Tiger tells Sookan's mother that when she came to her house she was bitter and angry but with the help of Sookan's mother, she has been able to move past her feelings of revenge and to help others, "to do some good".

Written from Sookan's first person point-of-view, Year of Impossible Goodbyes is a poignant, stirring account of events that happened a world away during the early twentieth century. Most young people study World War II from the perspective of events that happened in Britain and Europe and only rarely learn about events that occurred at the same time in other parts of the world such as Asia. Although the book is not autobiographical, the events that happened to Sookan in Year of Impossible Goodbyes are likely very similar to what Sook Nyul Choi experienced as her family fled North Korea.

 

http://www.awm.gov.au/exhibitions/korea/maps/images/establishing.gif

Korean culture has been strongly influenced by China. Many parts of Chinese culture, including its writing, political systems and architecture were adopted by the Korean people and made their own.  It is this ability to adapt foreign ideas and make them their own that is a defining characteristic of Korean culture. Korea's neighbour to the west, Japan, annexed Korea in 1910 and began to force Japanese culture and language onto the Korean people. As Japan continued to solidify its rule over Korea, gradually all forms of Korean culture were prohibited. By World War II, As Sook Nyul Choi writes in her novel, it was forbidden to speak Korean and Korean's were forced to worship at Japanese Shinto temples. Much of the country's cultural history was either destroyed or removed to Japan. During the war, men were conscripted to fight in the Japanese military and women were taken from villages to be used a "comfort women", a Japanese euphemism for sex slavery which was gently alluded to in Choi's novel.

Unfortunately the end of World War II did not bring a reprieve for Koreans living in the north. They now faced a new occupying army, the Communist Russians.When the Japanese retreated from the Korean pennisula, the two occupying armies, the Americans in the south and the Russians in the north divided Korea into two temporary zones. However, as the superpowers of the Soviet Union (Russia) and the United States could not agree on a government for Korea, it became impossible to set up a new government for all of Korea. The Korean War was instigated when the North attacked the South. The war ended in a stalemate in 1953 with the Communist North supported by the Soviet Union and China and the South gradually adopting a free-market democracy towards the end of the 20th century. North Korea has been in the news in the past decade because of the restrictive regime of Kim Jong-il who has led the country to brink of starvation and the implementation of large scale work camps. There is little doubt that the Korean people have suffered terribly over the past century.

Author Sook Nyul Choi was born in North Korea in 1937 and emigrated to the United States to attend college. Year of Impossible Goodbyes is the first book in a series, followed by Echoes of the White Giraffe and Gathering of Pearls.

Book Details:
Year of Impossible Goodbyes by Sook Nyui Chol
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company            1991
169 pp.

When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park

When My Name Was Keoko tells the story of a Korean family during the period of Japanese occupation in the Second World War. Author, Linda Sue Park uses two voices to tell her story, that of Kim Sun-hee and her older brother Kim Tae-yul. 

In 1910, when Sun-hee's father was a boy and her uncle was a baby, the Japanese took over Korea. With the Japanese came many new laws, such as Koreans could not be in charge of any businesses or schools. 

Sun-hee's father was a great scholar but he could not be the principal of her school. The principal is a Japanese man, the father of Sun-hee's friend, Tomo. Her father is the vice-principal. Their lessons are in Japanese and they study Japanese language, history and culture. They are not allowed to learn about Korean history or language. There are ffew Korean books or newspapers and Korean folktales are forbidden. Nevertheless Sun-hee and Tae-yul loved hearing the folktales their uncle tells them.

However, Sun-hee and her family spoke Korean at home, but were careful to speak Japanese in public. If they were caught speaking Korean in public they would be punished by the military. 

Sun-hee hears her father and uncle loudly discussing something but cannot discover what they are talking about. However, Sun-hee's father and her uncle, Kim Young-chun usher her, Tae-yul and their mother into their sitting room. From the newspaper he reads aloud, "By order of the Emperor, all Koreans are to be graciously allowewd to take Japanese names." While their uncle is enraged, their father explains they must all go to the police station in the next week to register and those who do not will be arrested. Sun-hee, whose name means "girl of brightness" cannot imagine doing this. Nor can Tae-yul whose name means "great warmth". It was a name his grandfather chose, as was the tradition of Koreans to have the grandfather give the name. 

However, Sun-hee's father comes up with a novel solution. Their family name of Kim reflects their heritage: all Kims lived in the mountains and they took the word for gold as their family name. He decides their Japanese name will be Kaneyama: Yama for mountains and ka-ne for gold in Japanese. The Japanese will not know this but it will the way they can honor their family history. He also states that they will randomly choose their first names as they are not their real names. Tae-yul's name becomes Kaneyama Nobuo. Sun-hee and Tae-yul remember how Korean marathoner Sohn-KeeChung was forced to compete under the Japanese flag in the Olympics as Kitei-Son and how their uncle was brought home badly beaten after Sohn's Olympic victory. He and his friends had altered the photos of Sohn to have the Korean flag and used his Korean name in their newspaper.

At school the new names cause confusion and Sun-hee gets into trouble when she mistakenly calls out a friend's Korean name. She receives a canning only because the man who is the Japanese military attache for her school, Onisha-san is in the classroom. This year is Sun-hee's last year of elementary school. In junior high, boys and girls attend separate schools. Sun-hee's Japanese friend Tomo has told her that in the larger cities there are separate schools for Japanese and Korean students. In school, Sun-hee has had to learn three kinds of Japanese writing. One was Kanji which uses a separate picture-character for each word. There are almost fifty-thousand characters but Sun-hee has to learn about two thousand. Sun-hee enjoys learning these characters which she describes as magic to her. Her father Abuji is helping her to learn them by explaining how the characters are formed.

At the end of her fourth year of school, Sun-hee is given a badge for being best in her grade at Japanese. This causes problems for her: on her way home she has stones thrown at her and is taunted with chants of "Chin-il-pa! Chin-il-pa!" which means "lover of Japan". This deeply upsets Sun-hee and she wonders if she is a traitor. Noticing her distress that night during their Kanji lesson, Abuji explains to Sun-hee that character writing has been borrowed by both Korea and Japan from China. The Japanese have adapted it to their alphabet. He tells her that for centuries Koreains have "considered Chines the highest form of learning...'To excel at character writing is to honor the traditions of our ancestors.' " This knowledge helps Sun-hee to understand that she is not a traitor.

Tae-yul considers Kanji "a complete bore" and unlike his grandfather and father he is not "scholarly". He prefers mathematics and science to character writing, although Abuji never complains about his marks.  Instead Tae-yul loves anything mechanical including cars and scooters that can travel fast. He enjoys working with Uncle Kim Young-chun in the workplace at the back of their house, especially working to rebuild an old bicycle. 

There is now a way going on in Europe but also one closer; the Japanese are fighting the Chinese in Manchuria. Because of the war, life begins to change for Sun-hee and her family. Once they ate rice, then barley mixed into the rice, then only barley, and then millet which was usually used for chicken feed. Fortunately they have plenty of vegetables from Omoni's garden. Yet another order comes in that all Rose of Sharon trees weee to be removed and cherry saplings planted throughout the town. Omoni has Tae-yul salvage a young Rose of Sharon tree.

One night after dinner, Uncle tells Abuji that a visitor named Lim has suggested he expand his business. Tae-yul believes that what Uncle is saying is that he wants to take on more Japanese customers. The two brothers continue to argue about something, although neither Sun-hee nor Tae-yul know what is going on. They are determined to find out. Then in late 1941, they learn the Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor, meaning that Japan is now at war with America. As the war continues on life becomes more and more difficult and the Japanese even more repressive. When Uncle is forced into hiding and the Japanese begin to harass Tae-yul as to his uncle's whereabout, Tae-yul makes a decision that may have dire consequences for himself and his family.

Discussion

When My Name Was Keoko is a short novel about the occupation of Korea by the Japanese during the years of World War II. It covers the years from 1940 to 1945.

In the mid-1800's, Korea was one of the last Asian countries still refusing to open to the West. In 1854, Japan finally agreed to establish trade and diplomacy with the West. However, when the Americans, French and British attempted to force Korea to do the same, they were met with strong resistance. The Koreans fought off the Americans and the French in the late 1800's. 

Korea was eventually forced to open their country by Japan, whose influence in the region had grown considerably. The Treaty of Kanghwa was signed by Japan and Korea in 1876 and gave Japan many rights in Korea that were not reciprocated in Japan. Japan fought two wars, against China (1894-95) known as the Sino-Japanese war and Russia (1904-05) known as the Russo-Japanese war for control of Korea. They won both wars and Korea became a "protectorate" of Japan throught American-mediated Treaty of Portsmouth.

In 1910, the Empire of Japan annexed Korea as a colony through the Japan-Korea Treaty. This meant that Korea was controlled by Japan until Japan was defeated by the Allied Forces on August 15, 1945, the end of World War II.From 1910 to 1919, Korea was ruled by the Japanese Military Police.  During this period, the Japanese destroyed many cultural and historical buildings including the Gyeongbokgung Palace. Of its over five hundred buildings, only forty percent remained by 1945. Korean customs and language were forbidden and Korean currency was abolished. The Japanese constructed new infrastructure such as roads, railroads and ports, and built up the country's industry, in effect modernizing the country. 

When the Japanese Emperor died in 1919, the March First Movement for Korean independence was brutally suppressed. After a national protest in 1919, military rule was relaxed and Koreans were allowed extra freedoms. With the advent of the Second World War, a return to stricter military rule began. In 1937, Koreans were forced to worship the Japanese Emperor at Shinto shrines.  In 1938, as means of strengthening the war effort the Japanese began a more strict policy of assimilation in Korea. In 1939, Koreans were pressured to change their names to Japanese, abandoning their use of clan-based Korean names.  Korean newspapers ceased publication in 1940. By 1943, the teaching and speaking of Korean was made illegal. Korean men were conscripted into working in factories and mines in Korea and Japan. It is estimated over five million Koreans were conscripted.  Initially Koreans were coerced into the military by a variety of means (as Park portrays in her novel) but in 1944, Korean men were conscripted to fight.  Tens of thousands of Korean girls aged twelve to seventee were forced into sexual slavery as "Comfort Women." to Japanese soldiers. 

In When My Name Was Keoko, the story is told from the narratives of Sun-hee and Tae-yul. Through the experiences of Tae-yul and Sun-hee Linda Sue Part portrays what it was like for the Korean people to live under the rule of Japanese and their struggle to maintain their culture and national identity. They were not alone as Japanese occupation included Hong Kong, Singapore, Burma, The Philippines, and New Guinea. Sun-hee, as a scholarly young girl, views the Korean occupation and the war from a more philosophical perspective asking questions regarding identity and the effect of war.  Tae-yul is more mechanically minded, liking math and science. He is able to engineer a bicycle out of spare parts and pipes and his fascination with an airplane foreshadows his role later on as a kamikaze pilot. Not scholarly like his sister, Tae-yul is more concerned with honour and resisting the Japanese.

In the novel, Linda Sue Park portrays Korean resistance through almost all her characters. There are many examples of this resistance. Sun-hee's Uncle Kim Young-chun placed the Korean flag in photographs of Korean marathoner Sohn-KeeChung and printed his Korean name rather than his Japanese name of Kitei-Son and was badly beaten. He is part of the resistance publishing a secret newspaper. Sun-hee's father devises a way to keep alive the remembrance of their Korean names. Omoni has Tae-yul save one of the Rose of Sharon trees that they must cut down and destroy on orders from their Japanese occupiers. It is a small tree that they place into a pot and hide when the Japanese soldiers come to inspect their land.When the Japanese order that almost all metal be turned over, including jewelry, Omoni saves a dragon brooch by hiding it in her clothing. Tae-yul carves the Korean flag into the bottom of the gourd bowls he is carving. And Abuji writes articles for his brother's resistance newspaper.  Tae-yul commits the most daring and sacrificial act of resistance by enlisting in the Japanese military to protect his Uncle Kim Young-chun. 

Sun-hee and Tae-yul have different responses to the events that occur within the short years recounted. Sun-hee struggles to maintain her Korean identity and wonders what makes her Korean. She wonders whether it is possible to write Korean thoughts in Japanese. She wants to learn how to write Korean. Her rebellion is quiet and personal. But she also faces inner conflict because she loves learn kanji but is labelled "Chin-il-pa" by her classmates. Her father explains that although this looks like she is a traitor, learn the characters is honouring their ancestors.

When the Japanese soldiers destroy Sun-hee's diary, she doesn't give up. She begins a new diary and pens this poem:

"You burn the paper but not the words.

You silence the words but not the thoughts.

You kill the thoughts only if you kill the man.

And you will find that his thoughts rise again

in the minds of others -- twice as strong as before!"

Sun-hee wonders about what life will be like if the Japanese are defeated. It would mean that they could regain Korean culture: they could use their real names and learn Korean history and use the Korean alphabet again. Sun-hee understands why the Japanese have taken away their words. 

"How could an alphabet --letters that didn't even mean anything by themselves -- be important?  

But it was important. Our stories, our names, our alphabet. Even Uncle's newspaper.  

It was all about words. 

If words weren't so important, they wouldn't try so hard to take them away."

As the war continues on and Sun-hee struggles with exhaustion and hunger she wonders, "If a war lasts long enough, is it possible that people would completely forget the idea of beauty? That they'd only be able to do what they needed to survive and would no longer remember how to make and enjoy beautiful things?" To counter this Sun-hee tries to think of beautiful things every day: the dragon broach buried in their backyard, how the rose of Sharon trees looked when in full bloom.

After the dropping of the leaflets by the Americans telling them they knew that Koreans are not Japanese and they they will not be bombed, Sun-hee wonders, "What did it mean to be Korean, when for all my life Korea had been a part of Japan?"

Tae-yul, on the other hand, is more open about his opposition to the Japanese. He tries to resist when Japanese soldiers take away his homemade bike. When students are given rubber balls in honor of the conquest of Malaya, Burma and Singapore Tae-yul responds  "What they take: our rice, our language, our names. What they give: little rubber balls. I can't feel grateful about such a bad deal."

He makes a courageous decision to enlist in the Japanese military, against the wishes of his parents and his sister who cannot understand his decision.  Park creates tension in the novel as to why Tae-yul might be doing this. Is it his love of planes and his desire to become a pilot? As it turns out that is not the reason Tae-yul volunteers. It is to protect his uncle. "I believe in Uncle and the things he believes in.I'd do anything not to betray him. Anything. Even join the army of his sworn enemy."  Before he leaves he explains to Sun-hee why he has decided to enlist: thet the police know his uncle is working for the resistance, that he is a problem for the Japanese  and they want to stop him. He tells Sun-hee, . "That means his work has been successful, Sun-hee -- that he's still printing the newspaper. And it must be reaching hundreds of people. Maybe thousands. Even if -- if something were to happen to me, it's of no importance compared to what the independence movement would suffer if Uncle is arrested...If they catch him, they'll kill him. The paper he prints-- the truth in words--it must hurt the Japanese as much as a thousand guns." It is a sacrifice that almost costs Tae-yul his life, although he has no intention of dying if possible. 

This leads to a wonderfully crafted climax to the novel as the fate of Tae-yul seems sealed. However, author Linda Sue Park ends the novel happily with the surrender of Japan, and the Kim family being reunited.

Park is direct about some of the brutality suffered under Japanese occupation such as beatings of civilians and hints at others such as the comfort women - the recruiting and wholesale kidnapping of young Korean women for the sole purpose of working in brothels for the Japanese army. The latter is hinted at when the Japanese round up all the young women who are sixteen years and older and ask for volunteers to go to work in textile factories making uniforms. When only a dozen girls volunteer, the Japanese angrily choose more girls to send. Sun-hee doesn't know what this means but she knows it is not as the Japanese are saying.

Although When My Name Was Keoko is fictional, it takes some of its basis in the events that were experienced by the author's parents, Eung Won and Joung Sook, while growing up in Korea and some of the events, such as Sohn Kee Chung who was forced to use his Japanese name of Kitei Son when competing in the 1936 Olympic marathon, and the dropping of leaflets into Korea actually happened. When My Name Was Keoko offers a good starting point for young readers to learn about Korea during the Japanese occupation. 

Book Details:
When My Name Was Keoko by Linda Sue Park
New York: Clarion Books 2002
199 pp.