The Silence of Bones
Page 30
The factional strife made palace life difficult for Queen Jeongsun. At the young age of fourteen, she married the elderly King Yeongjo and strove to maintain her Old Doctrine family’s power in court. While the Old Doctrine faction held the most power, they were responsible for influencing King Yeongjo to kill his own son—the reform-minded Crown Prince Sado—and this move would ultimately backfire on them. Because once the elderly king passed away, the new king to ascend the throne was Chŏngjo, the son of the murdered crown prince. He locked arms with the Southerner faction, and together, they punished Queen Jeongsun’s Old Doctrine family members and stripped her of power.
For the next twenty years, her resentment toward King Chŏngjo and the Southerners grew. Then suddenly, after Chŏngjo’s unexpected death, she rose as regent, wielding enormous power over the government. Jeongsun immediately set about taking her revenge. She joined forces with the Old Doctrine faction and decided to use the persecution of Catholics as a means of eliminating the Southerners, for many of them were Catholic converts. By coming down hard on her political rivals, she would finally be able to vent her rage after the years spent powerless and in isolation.
Outside the palace walls, there was another woman who defied the gender ideology of the Joseon period, where women were expected to be completely hidden from the outer world. Lady Kang Wansuk took on a public career as a leader in the Catholic community. She was involved in the project of smuggling Priest Zhou Wenmo into Hanyang (now called Seoul) in 1795. When the government learned of the priest’s arrival, the intense hunt for him began, which was when Lady Kang decided to take Priest Zhou Wenmo into the protection of her home.
During this time, her home became the center of Catholic activity and propagation. But Lady Kang was not only an active teacher of the gospel; she was also known for inviting illiterate servants and maids into her home, where she would teach them how to read.
When the Shinyu Bakhae broke out in 1801, the persecution was spearheaded by the queen regent’s political offensive against the Southerners, but even those who had no ties to the factional strife were affected by it. Lady Kang was immediately arrested and was taken to the Capital Police Bureau, where she was tortured for the purpose of extracting information about the whereabouts of Priest Zhou Wenmo. Even then, her priority to protect the priest did not waver, and the torture continued until Priest Zhou Wenmo decided to hand himself over.
Soon after, Lady Kang and the priest, along with many others, were condemned to death. She was beheaded outside the West Gate in Hanyang on July 2, 1801 (May 22, by the lunar calendar). She was forty years old.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As I think of all those who supported my writing dream, it has never been clearer to me than now that the publication of a book is not a solitary achievement. I am deeply grateful to my editor, Emily Settle, for tirelessly helping me turn this manuscript into a novel.
A special thank-you to my production editor, Alexei Esikoff; my copy editor, Valerie Shea; my designer, Katie Klimowicz; my cover artist, Kasiq Jungwoo; and everyone at the wonderful Feiwel and Friends for bringing this book to life. Many thanks to my agent, Amy Elizabeth Bishop, for championing my work and patiently replying to all my anxious emails!
To my critique partners, early readers, and supporters, this writing journey would have been so lonely and despair-filled without you all: Kim S., Clariza, Mina, Kerrie, Maybelle, Tatiana, Matthew, Mado, Evan, and especially Shaylin, who believed in this book even when I doubted it. To my small group ladies and Cristina: the way you listened so patiently and lovingly to all my writing woes kept me going. To Joan He and Roselle, thank you for being there for me, especially when I have questions about publishing! Also, a big thank-you to Rebecca, Francesca, Maria D, Amélie, Katie, Kathleen, Grace, Eunice, Liz, Nafiza, Adele, Rachel, Patrice, and Tanya, among many others, who advocated for this book on Twitter. And a humongous thank-you to Julie Dao for encouraging me when I was stuck in the Query Trenches and for being a role model to so many writers.
I’d also like to thank all the critique partners from back when I first began writing, who helped me become a stronger writer: Rowenna, Cassie, Priscilla, Becca K, Flore, Grace V, Val-Rae, Rika, Sarah Dill, and Brenna. I hope I didn’t miss anyone, but it’s possible that I did (forgive me!), because so many people helped me along the way.
All my love to everyone in the Toronto Writers Crew: Kess, Fallon, Elora, Kelly, Sarena, Sasha, Liselle, Deborah, Joanna, Louisa, and Maggie. Thank you for being so supportive and for being a source of never-ending inspiration. Having dinner and cocktails with you lovely people, and chatting for hours about writing and publishing, is something I always look forward to.
And, of course, my eternal gratitude to my family. To my parents, who encouraged me to pursue writing, never pressuring me to do anything other than what I love. To my sister, for always being my greatest ally and never doubting that I could make something of my writing. To my brother, for believing I’ll one day make enough book money to buy him a house and a car (that day’s still far, far, far away). And to my husband, Bosco, for his unwavering love and consideration. Life is so much richer with a best friend like you by my side.
A towering pile of books and articles helped me bring Joseon Korea to life, but the resources I turned to the most were Jahyun Kim Haboush’s Epistolary Korea: Letters in the Communicative Space of the Chosŏn, 1392–1910; Sun Joo Kim and Jungwon Kim’s Wrongful Deaths: Selected Inquest Records from Nineteenth-Century Korea; Yung-chung Kim’s Women of Korea: A History from Ancient Times to 1945; Peter H. Lee’s Sources of Korean Tradition, Vol. 2; Key P. Yang and Gregory Henderson’s An Outline History of Korean Confucianism: Part I: The Early Period and Yi Factionalism; and Moo-Sook Hanh’s Encounter: A Novel of Nineteenth-Century Korea.
One last thing: I thank Jesus, my Lord and Savior, for guiding me through the darkest moments in life and for putting up with all my bad moods.
Thank you for reading this Feiwel & Friends book.
The friends who made THE SILENCE OF BONES possible are:
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About the Author
June Hur was born in South Korea and raised in Canada, except for the time when she moved back to Korea and attended high school there. She studied History and Literature at the University of Toronto. She began writing her debut novel, The Silence of Bones, after obsessing over books about Joseon Korea. When she's not writing, she works as an assistant for the public library or can be found journaling at a coffee shop. June currently lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter O
ne
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright
Copyright © 2020 by June Hur
A FEIWEL AND FRIENDS BOOK
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First hardcover edition, 2020
eBook edition, April 2020
eISBN 9781250229564