[Essay in My Heart]

White Chrysanthemum

"Uh, what book is this? ”

It is remembered as 2018.  I received a novel in English.  I had never ordered a book, and I was curiously ripping off the envelope.  When I read the letter inside, it was from a publisher called G. P. Putnam's Sons in New York.

The title is 'White Chrysanthemum.'  The author is Mary Lynn Bracht, who, by name, was not aware of me at all.  I wondered how she knew and sent me this book.  According to the letter, the reason I was specifically selected was that I should first read the newly published book before everyone else and submit a book review.  Before officially publishing the novel, several readers were selected according to their standards and sent the novel to them in advance.  I appreciated the generous offer of the book publisher.

First of all, I was curious about the picture of the maid of Jeju Island on the book cover, and thereby I guessed that it was a book related to Korea.  The author was a Korean American whose mother was Korean, studied in England, and White Chrysanthemum was introduced as her first novel.

The novel clearly shows the pain of separation and han (한: 恨), and the longing for peace, freedom, and hope, as the two sisters stand in the maelstrom of war, unfolding in the main background of Jeju Island starting in summer 1943 and Seoul in  December 2011 respectively. 

In 1943, two sisters, Hana (하나)  Emi (애미), who grew up in a haenyeo (해녀: 海女) family on Jeju island, spent peaceful days with their families.  One summer day, when Japanese troops suddenly approached the beach where they were catching seaweeds and fishes, one soldier forced Hana to go, and she protected Emi by hiding her younger sister.  Hana was forcibly taken to the battlefield.  Hana arrives in Manchuria by train through the ports of Jeju and Busan, where she lives at a smaller living residence like a beast in Comfort Women barracks of Japanese soldiers stationed there.

Hana later attempts a mortal escape from the Japanese army barracks but is caught without escaping the clutches of Morimoto, the brutal and evil Japanese military officer who brutally harasses her.  Morimoto returns to find Hana in Mongolia, leaving one to a nomadic family.  Hana secretly attempts to kill Morimoto, who is asleep, and fails, but escapes again with the help of Altan, the son of a nomadic family, and Hana is captured again.

They were captured by Soviet forces and eventually, Morimoto was forced to kill himself by the Soviet soldiers, and Hana was finally released with the help of the Mongolian nomadic Altan family, who helped her, and then enjoyed the freedom she has been waiting for a long time.

Meanwhile, Emi, who survived in Jeju Island, loses her parents in tragic circumstances in a whirlwind of ideological confrontations as she goes through the Japan Era, Liberation, the Jeju 4/3, and 6/25.  And on her behalf, she spent her life in grief, anguished about her elder sister who had been drawn to the hellish battlefield at a young age.  Her husband, who has been cold for the rest of his life without understanding herself, eventually reconciles and leaves her side first, and she leaves her children without talking about the secrets of her life.

Eventually, Emi decides to leave Jeju Island in 2011 and finally travel to Seoul, where her children have been living and continue to attend a weekly demonstration gathering in front of the statue "Girl of Peace for the Comfort Women” honors the sacrifices of the Comfort Women to find her lost sister.  When she saw the statue, she always thought of her beloved sister, "Hana," who had sacrificed for herself. 

After a long time of hesitation, Emi finally speaks to her children about the heartbreaking story of a family torn apart in the whirlwind of the war she has kept in her heart all her life, and finally closes her eyes after mentioning the sacrifice of their aunt for her.

One day, a letter of the daughter of one woman who was captured by Soviet forces during World War II is sent to the Sharing House, a home for Comfort Women grandmothers in Gyunggi-do, Korea.  That photo was written as 'Haenyeo Girl, 1943'  (해녀소녀, 1943).

A war and a series of turmoil changed the fate of two innocent girls and their whole families at one point in a row.  The issues of Japanese aggression and war are still not being resolved until today.  The aftermaths of 6/25, the tragedy of the nation, and many unforgettable events are still going on.  Through these heavy-topic events, it reminds us of how precious freedom, peace,  family love, and sisterly love are.   ***

June 10,   2021

Solti

* About writer Mary Lynn Bracht  *

Mary Lynn Bracht was born in Stuttgart, Germany, and grew up in the United States. She studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Texas at Austin and received her Master’s degree in Creative Writing at Birkbeck, University of London. Her debut novel, White Chrysanthemum, was published in January 2018 by Chatto & Windus Books and Putnam Books and translated worldwide. (19 different languages including Korean)  She is represented by Rowan Lawton at rowan@thesohoagency.co.uk.

She is the Winner of the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Best First Novel Award, Prix coup de coeur Saint-Maur en Poche 2018, The 2019 Waverton Good Read Award, Finalist for the 2019 Dayton Literary Peace Prize.

(Source: Author's homepage:  https://marybracht.com/)

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