The Red Palace

Written by June Hur

Feiwel and Friends

978-1-250-80055-8

336 pp.

Ages 13-18

January 2022

Revenge begets revenge; the anger is unquenchable. We become the monsters we are trying to punish. Justice, however, brings closure, and that is what I want. It can only be achieved by remaining sober-minded and rational. (pg. 173)

It is 1758, and eighteen-year-old Baek-hyeon is a nurse (uniyeo) at Changdeok Palace, a position for which she has worked tirelessly in her efforts to gain the attention of her biological father, Lord Shin, and appreciation of her mother, one of his oft-neglected concubines. But the palace is a place of spies, secrets, and worse, and Hyeon learns first-hand to keep her counsel when she and her friend Nurse Jieun and a royal physician are called to the Crown Prince's chambers to participate in a charade of caring for Prince Jangheon who is AWOL. But then the nurses are alerted to a massacre at the Hyeminseo, the public medical office where Hyeon had studied to become a nurse. Two student nurses, Head Nurse Heejin and Court Lady Ahnbi, who served Madam Mun, the King's concubine, have all been violently murdered and Hyeon's mentor, Nurse Jeongsu, is Commander Song's prime suspect.

 

Hyeon vows to prove Nurse Jeongsu's innocence, even as Commander Song endeavours to torture a confession from her. It seems someone else thinks the same, peppering the capital with handbills declaring the Crown Prince to be a murderer. Undertaking her own investigation, speaking with several nurses including Nurse Inyeong who'd reported the murders, with Royal Physician Khun who'd been seen arguing with Court Lady Ahnbi, and with Sulbi, a damo working for the police bureau, Hyeon forms an unlikely alliance with the young Police Inspector Seo whom she believes at first is only Eojin, a police servant. Together, the two young people work to uncover lies and truths, protect the innocent, thwart injustice and develop a relationship deemed socially improbable.

The Joseon dynasty which ruled Korea from the 1300s to the 1800s is not a familiar one for this reviewer or many readers. But June Hur skillfully takes us to this era and its society of classes ranging from royalty and the nobility to the cheonmin (vulgar commoners). It is a time when men kept concubines, sons were revered over daughters, and Confucian ideals were followed. From the clothing which marks the roles and status of many, like the nurse uniform of pale blue silk jacket and dark blue skirt and white apron with garima headpiece,  and meals of gukbap and sullungang, to naming protocols, June Hur makes us believe in this reality, with these people and these histories. Her "Author's Note" reveals the true history which she incorporated into her story but her characters and the mystery to be solved are all her own, intricate and vivid. As with her earlier books, The Silence of Bones (2020) and The Forest of Stolen Girls (2021), June Hur tells a story but readers do more than just absorb it. They become invested in it. Even as I learned of a different culture, I wanted justice for the honourable Hyeon, for the victims of violence, and for women who were limited by their birth. I wanted resolution. And, with tenderness, compassion and honesty to time and place, June Hur eloquently gives readers that.

Two Times a Traitor

Written by Karen Bass

Pajama Press

978-1-77278-031-4

240 pp.

Ages 9-12

May 2017 (Canada), August 2017 (US)

Selected as a Junior Library Guild Selection, Two Times a Traitor may seem a departure for award-winning author of historical fiction, Karen Bass, who won the Geoffrey Bilson Award for her books Graffiti Knight (Pajama Press, 2013) and Uncertain Soldier (Pajama Press, 2015) in consecutive years.  But, Karen Bass knows how to seamlessly weave a bit of the unexpected into her fiction, as she did in her suspenseful The Hill (Pajama Press, 2016), and as she does in Two Times a Traitor which blends a contemporary setting with Canada's past in Louisbourg 1745 through the use of time slip.

Twelve-year-old Lazare Berenger is still angry with his father who moved the family from Ottawa to Boston while Laz was visiting his Grandmère's farm in New Brunswick the previous summer.  And now, when he'd been saving up for a parkour camp for spring break, Laz is with his parents and younger sister Emeline visiting Halifax.  With every new suggestion of his father, Lazare is reeling with anger so, while visiting the Citadel, Laz takes off on his own.

The air seemed to push against Laz, as if it didn't want him to return down the tunnel.  Something strange was happening, but he didn't know if it was this chamber, the whole tunnel, or if he'd had too much bacon for lunch.  He took a deep breath and his lungs refused to fill. (pg. 19)

When he knocks himself out, he awakens in an unfamiliar landscape of pirate-looking men at bonfires on shore, old-time sailing ships moored in the bay and a man with a sword taking him to Captain Hawkins on the ship called the Constance.  Believing it's all a role play as boot camp punishment from his father, he spouts off about 2017 and more, leading the captain to believe he is pretending madness to distract them from recognizing him as an Acadian in league with the French at Louisbourg.  His clothes, which might conceal weapons, are taken away, as is his grandmother's St. Christopher medal ("Papist witchery"; pg. 38) and he is put in fetters.  Ben, a young boy who has been apprenticed to the Constance, befriends him and Laz learns that it truly is 1745 and they are transporting militia to Canso to fight King George's War against the French.

With a militiaman named Cooper seeking retribution on "Master Berenger" and Commander Pepperell, the commander of the expedition, ready to hang Laz for treason, the boy is put to work alongside the militia and then blackmailed–he is convinced his medal is the means to getting back to the future– into going into Louisbourg as a spy to seed doubt and do mischief.  Under the guise of a farm boy warning the French of an incoming barrage of British ships, Laz is welcomed into Louisbourg, becoming the messenger of Port Commander Pierre Morpain, a man who treats Laz as the boy wishes his own father would.  As Laz builds a new family amongst the residents of Louisbourg, he is haunted by his need to fulfill his obligation to the British if he is ever to return to his true family and life in 2017.

Privileged Laz may think his life with his father is impossible but, after facing treason charges twice, once by the British and later with the French after he sabotages their gun powder, he realizes how easy life has been.  Still he wonders about remaining in the past, one in which Morpain keeps him safe and shows him deep affection and respect and Laz has a purposeful life which, though dangerous and unpredictable, feels like home.

While taking the reader into both sides of the 1745 siege of Louisbourg, Karen Bass makes sure that Two Times a Traitor is about Laz recognizing what home is to him.  He may have been angry with the move to Boston but he soon realizes that what matters are the people.  It's evident he adores his sister and is determined to get home for her but he has some qualms when Louisbourg starts to feel like home too.  But before he can make the decision about where he belongs, he has to stay alive. With both sides believing him to be a traitor and an angry militiaman out to kill him, not to speak of the cannon balls, mortar and muskets and bayonets, safety is a commodity in short supply. Readers will adore the action adventure story of  Two Times a Traitor but its story of historical events is extraordinary and not to be relegated to second place. Karen Bass does comprehensive research, providing astounding detail to setting and characters, plunging readers into the fray that was war.  By allowing Laz to be part of both sides and emphasizing his confusion about which side to favour, Karen Bass allows readers to see the conflict from different perspectives and takes history away from the one-sidedness of most textbooks. Moreover, she allows us to see that conflict, whether personal or historical, always has two sides that need to be seen.  Resolution may be amicable or there may be victors and those defeated, but how it plays out is all about point of view.

Abigail's Wish

by Gloria Ann Wesley

Illustrated by Richard Rudnicki

Nimbus Publishing

978-1-77108-439-0

32 pp.

Ages 4-9

2016

With Black History Month on the horizon, I think I will need to renew last year’s update of youngCanLit valuable for commemorating that important month to include, Abigail's Wish, a lovely picture book about a young girl of a Black Loyalist family.

From Abigail's Wish

by Gloria Ann Wesley 

illus. by Richard Rudnicki

It’s spring and young Abigail is witnessing the dawn of a new season in the world of her new homeland of Nova Scotia.  She still recalls the noise and fears endured during the American Revolution and their long journey by ship from New York in 1783 to the new colony of Birchtown. But she can see forward, looking past the hardships of little food and simple shelter, to the specialness of a day when a new baby would be welcomed.  Abigail’s Aunt Dinah is ready to give birth, and that birth

"…would mean a big celebration: people would bring what they could spare to eat, and the singing and laughter and dancing would be such fun.  Surely, a new dress was needed for such a celebration, Abigail hoped." (pg. 13)

That is Abigail’s wish, for a new dress, and she hopes her mother will use some of their payment of vegetables from cleaning Mrs. Spinney’s house for trade for some fabric at Mr. Tobin’s store.  But it is not to happen.  Returning home, the community has gathered to celebrate the birth of her new cousin, Isaac.  Still Abigail hopes, heading to the church with her mother to see if any donations had arrived from which a suitable dress might be found.  However, as it had been a cold spring and few had undertaken their spring cleaning during which donations often arose, Abigail finds nothing.  Still there is reason to celebrate and Abigail puts her efforts into sewing a quilt for her new cousin from bits and pieces of fabric.  It’s weeks after the celebration that a very special donation just for Abigail helps make her wish finally come true.

From Abigail's Wish

by Gloria Ann Wesley 

illus. by Richard Rudnicki

Gloria Ann Wesley, poet and author of Chasing Freedom (Roseway, 2011) and If This is Freedom (Roseway, 2013), brings a story of the pioneering spirit and the joys of simple successes to the forefront of this picture book of historical fiction.  The birth of a new baby, a job well-paid in produce, a gift of a piece of licorice–all are riches to be appreciated for a Black Loyalist girl who’d already seen much horror in her short life.  A dress becomes the icing on a cake already enjoyed for its flavour and rarity.  Painter Richard Rudnicki, well known for illustrating Gracie, The Public Gardens Duck (Nimbus, 2007) and Viola Desmond Won’t Be Budged (Groundwood, 2010), produces a fine mixture of realism and the divine, both which must have impregnated the experiences of Black Loyalists making their way to Canada to establish new homes.  Hardships are plenty but still there are opportunities for diversion and gaiety.  Richard Rudnicki’s art, steeped in the browns and taupes of the naturalness of the land, the everyday clothing and the wood-based interiors, still finds the means to add some mauves and blues, with some reds and yellows, to brighten the reality.  With his art, Richard Rudnicki is able to line Glora Ann Wesley’s story of toil with a quilt of simple joys and appreciation for the goodness of life, helping Abigail's Wish to bring young readers a new awareness of history.

The Baby Experiment

by Anne Dublin
Dundurn
978-1459701359
150 pp.
Ages 11-15
2012

When fourteen-year-old Johanna Eisen answers an ad for orphanage workers, she presents herself as Johanna Richter.  With Jews in Hamburg being accused of poisoning the water and spreading the plague (did I mention this story takes place in the early 1700s?), and having much prejudice levied against them, Johanna recognizes that she must keep her Jewish background hidden if she is to get the job.  Hired, Johanna agrees to care for the infants, always adhering to the strict rule of not speaking to the children or providing any comforts beyond the basics needed to survive.

Johanna and the other two caregivers, Cecile and Monica, are each assigned a section with a number of babies aged one to three months old.  As the weeks pass, several of the babies die.  Learning from Monica that the orphanage is actually an experiment being run by Professor Gottfried Leibniz, and overhearing the visiting Dr. Keller telling the Professor that his experiment is denying the children their emotional needs, Johanna decides to conduct her own experiment on Rebecca, one of the babies in her care.  Disregarding her instructions when away from prying eyes, Johanna cuddles, hugs, sings to, and kisses Rebecca, helping the baby to thrive, while sadly other children die.  Taking a lesson from the story of Moses, Johanna decides to escape with Rebecca, now nine months old, and travel to Amsterdam where Jews are treated more fairly.  But, a simple plan becomes an ordeal with Johanna enlisting the help of those who may harbour antisemitic views, confronting the dreaded plague, being assaulted by bandits, and ultimately revealing her true Jewish nature.

While I could not find any historical references to such experimentation, it is evident that antisemitism was pervasive in 18th century Europe, just as it is in The Baby Experiment, and this prejudice would have dominated all of Johanna's experiences.  Everything from her home to travel, work, friends and purchases, was affected, perhaps banned, restricted or impossible, due to the antisemitism of the time.  Having Johanna endure the masquerade of being non-Jewish (e.g., eating non-kosher food) and deny her heritage, even with friends, demonstrates her fortitude and resolve to manage in that prejudicial society.  Anne Dublin writes of Johanna's escape to Amsterdam as a grave undertaking, though it reads like an adventure, rife with obstacles and unexpected stumbling blocks, with the occasional advantage and luck tossed in to mitigate the oppressive nature of the times.  In The Baby Experiment, Anne Dublin has created a perfect story at the reading level for the middle grades but with the maturity appreciated by those readers slightly older, all in a historical setting brimming with atmosphere.  Young readers will appreciate Johanna's dangerous endeavour while The Baby Experiment spurs discussions of evolving social justice.