Over the last week, I have finished reading the next two books after Daughters of the Dragon and both have left me feeling very intrigued about Korean history. Korea may be known as the land of the Morning Calm, but starting with its closest neighbours, China and Japan, even the US and Russia have tried to remove every trace of calm in the country. Japan’s defeat in WWII ensured that USA, the “teenager” country with no history, culture of its own or experience in being a world leader did what was “convenient” for it – divided Korea into North Korea and South Korea. A communist North Korea and a Capitalist South Korea.
Am happy for the South Koreans because they have prospered and done well for themselves, but it’s sad that a historically great Kingdom, couldn’t remain a single country. Imperialist Japan and China don’t shine either as colonisers :(. The wounds they have left behind for Korea are deep. Hopefully someday we will all live in a better world where “colonisers” don’t get to decide the country’s borders. Yes, I do allude to Bharat’s partition. Can never forgive the Colonial British for the lines they drew on my motherland.
Anyway, coming back to the second book in the “Dragon” trilogy, The Dragon Queen is a fictionalised biography of Queen Min or Empress Myeongseong, considered as one of the greatest queens of Korea and historically, its last queen. Do read about her on Wikipedia (hope it’s the right history and not a Western interpretation) – Empress Myeongseong.
The Dragon Queen – Summary
The story starts with the US diplomat Nate Simon being to Seoul to gauge the political situation there and advise POTUS. He also has to figure out who sent an ancient comb with a golden spine and an ivory inlay of a two-headed dragon to the President. Nate is married to a Korean and has lived in Seoul. He speaks Korean and has some understanding of its culture and history.
As he gets out for a walk to clear his mind, he gets abducted and finds himself facing the embassy aide Anna Carlson dressed as a Queen in some underground location. …. The rest of the story is set in the 1800s. It comes back to the present every 100 pages or so just to remind the readers that this is a retelling of an old story and different from the current situation.
Anna narrates the story of Queen Min to the dazed and then dazzled Nate Simon by becoming Queen Min herself and sitting on a throne. A beautiful orphan named Ja-young is chosen to be the child bride of Gojong, Korea’s boy King. While Gojong has been declared King, the country is run by his father Regent Taewon-gun.
It’s fascinating to read about the training Ja-young undergoes before she is presented before the Regent and his wife. Ja-young’s uncle tells her that she can either be a mute submissive stone queen or take charge and be a dragon queen. The book beautifully shows how Ja-young transforms from a shy, introverted, under confident girl to the dragon Queen who tries to unite Korea and make it a developed country.
Her first born son dies, so King Gojong ends up having a son with his concubine. The regent takes this opportunity to relegate Queen Min to the shadows and declares the concubine’s son as the crown prince. Queen Min carefully turns the tables on the regent and manages to exile him. King Gojong and she now become the true rulers of Korea. Queen Min sends her uncle to the USA and Japan to learn about new developments there and she tries to bring those innovations to Korea. She tries her best to modernise Korea by negotiating trade deals and acquiring new technology.
She loses her grip on the government when Japan tries to force a one-sided trade deal on Korea. While the Queen doesn’t want to sign it, King Gojong tries to take his father’s help. The regent uses this opportunity to come back into the government and incites riots against the Queen. She escapes to a village and lives for some time as a commoner, befriending a blind potter. The theme of “One Korea” is woven right through the retelling of Queen Min’s story.
Queen Min returns to power from her short exile and manages to modernise Korea as much as she could. She also banishes the regent Taewon-gun to China. Unfortunately before Queen Min can complete her work, Japan and China fight on Korean soil and Japan wins… they assassinate Queen Min and bring back the regent from China to be a titular head.
In the book, Anna Carlson frees Nate Simon and hopefully he goes back and gives the POTUS, the right advise. We wouldn’t know ofcourse since this is fiction.
I loved reading this book … yes it’s a bit far fetched, especially the portions that are based on current times, but Queen Min’s story is fascinating and very inspirational. Hope to visit South Korea some day and visit the palaces and gardens mentioned in this trilogy.
Thank you, William Andrews for writing these three books. Very little is known about Korean history, and modern South Korea is known only through the K-dramas on OTT channels.
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