"The Red Palace" by June Hur

The Red Palace (Jan. 25, 2022) by June Hur.

*This is a standalone novel.*

“The more urgent a circumstance, the calmer we must be” is a line drilled into the nurses trained (and training) at the Hyeminseo by Nurse Jeongsu and which palace nurse (or uinyeo) Baek-hyeon (Hyeon) heeds regularly. In 1758, during the Joseon Dynasty, the 18-year-old is an illegitimate daughter, and while she knows Lord Shin (the Minister of Justice) is her father, he’ll never officially claim her and give her his last name, so Hyeon works hard and is meticulous in all she does. That is how she worked her way up as a palace nurse. She keeps her head down and seeks perfection in all she does in desperate hope of winning her father’s approval and seeks to be more to her mother than a girl she wishes were born a boy. (Baek-hyeon translates as “virtuous elder brother,” a strange name to therefore bestow upon a girl.)

            One night, there’s a massacre at the Hyeminseo. Four women killed. A lady of the court, a head nurse and two student nurses. There are rumors – and anonymous handbills – accusing Prince Jangheon of the murders, but it’s Nurse Jeongsu, Hyeon’s mentor and more a mother to her than her own mother, that is about to be tortured and convicted of this gruesome crime. Hyeon rallies herself to hunt for the truth and crosses paths with Seo Eojin. (Eojin is a half cousin to Hyeon’s closest friend, Jieun, also an illegitimate daughter of a concubine, but one claimed by her father. They are both of the cheonmin class, lowest of the low.) While she originally mistakes him for a pauper, he is, in fact, a jongsagwan, a police inspector. He’s a prodigy, too, being only 18 and already a jongsagwan. Unlike Commander Song, who likes to terrorize the weak and anyone he doesn’t like, Eojin seeks truth and justice, and he wants Hyeon’s help. He needs her help. They will look out for one another, deepening their unexpected connection, but that vigilance may not save either of them from bloodshed.

            An author whose works I’d never read prior, I was blown away by this YA novel. Like with Hyeon, Hur’s world-building is meticulous and sweeping, the story is complex and devastating, and the characters are gripping and authentic. It’s a fast-paced, murder-mystery with rich historical detail that is stunning to read. There’s a blossoming romance, a societal hierarchy whose historical truth drives me batty and culture taking the reader back over 250 years ago. For those who don’t know, the Joseon Dynasty was real, as was Crown Prince Jangheon, who was executed at the age of 27; it’s not make-believe, though this story is a work of fiction. Hur includes more in her Author’s Note, which is definitely worth reading. The entire cast of this novel is Korean, and I wholly admit that that felt amazing to read.