Janie Chang's The Porcelain Moon is an illuminating look at a lost chapter in history — read an excerpt now
CBC Books | Posted: December 13, 2022 1:37 PM | Last Updated: December 13, 2022
The Porcelain Moon will be published on Feb. 21, 2023.
Janie Chang is a B.C.-based historical fiction writer who draws inspiration from her family history, ancestral tales and the stories she was told as a child about life in a Chinese small town pre-First World War.
Her novels Three Souls, Dragon Springs Road and The Library of Legends paint a picture of what life was like in China in the early 20th century.
Her latest book, The Porcelain Moon, is a story about forbidden love, belonging and freedom. Set in France in the final days of the First World War, the book follows Pauline Deng, a young Chinese woman who runs away from her uncle's home in Paris to avoid an arranged marriage in Shanghai.
Pauline is offered refuge by Camille Roussel, a woman trying to escape from her abusive husband, and the two become fast friends. When Pauline discovers a secret Camille has been hiding, their situation becomes dangerous and the two women must make a choice that binds them together forever.
As soon as I learned about the Chinese Labour Corps in WW I France, I had to write a novel set during this episode of history. - Janie Chang
"You read about individuals overlooked by history, but how do 140,000 men get overlooked? As soon as I learned about the Chinese Labour Corps in WW I France, I had to write a novel set during this episode of history. The Porcelain Moon ended up being a more personal story than I expected, reflecting aspects of my own journey as a child of two cultures," Chang told CBC Books via an emailed statement.
The Porcelain Moon will be published on Feb. 21, 2023.
Read an excerpt from The Porcelain Moon below.
But I don't want to get married, she thought. The letter fell from her hand and fluttered to the floor of the study, the neat precision of her uncle's brushstroked Chinese writing at odds with the chaos that churned her insides. Pauline didn't reach down to retrieve it, just stared at the sheet of paper as though it were some malevolent creature, a serpent or venomous spider lying on the wooden parquet.
Her uncle's first wife was now in control of her fate. First Wife, who had never wanted her in their household. First Wife, whose expression visibly curdled whenever she looked at Pauline.
Her uncle had murmured occasionally about writing to First Wife in Shanghai about arranging a match for Pauline, but in his absent minded way he'd never followed through. Not until now.
Now, because he was back in China for Grandfather Deng's funeral. Now, because while he was there he had remembered to ask First Wife to hire a matchmaker for Pauline, his dead brother's illegitimate daughter.
Pauline's gaze fell on a tall vase in the corner, its glazed surface painted with a folk tale she knew well: the Lady Ch'ang O escaping from a cruel husband, her robes streaming in the wind as she ascends the night sky toward a full moon. Her right hand is raised, pointing to her destination. A porcelain woman reaching for a porcelain moon.
There had to be a way to avoid the fate outlined for her in that letter.
The air in Pauline's lungs felt chokingly thick. She threw open the study window, oblivious to the frigid November wind that slashed at her throat and swept papers off the desk. She leaned out as far as the wrought-iron window guards allowed and let the familiar noises of life on the Rue de Lisbonne seep into her consciousness.
Impatient delivery trucks sounding their horns, two women laughing as they strolled together, their children trailing behind them, chattering like sparrows. The streetlamps that gave Paris its nickname, the City of Light, glimmered brightly as the sun sank lower. When Pauline finally took a deep breath, she drew in aromas of baking, the bistro on the corner preparing its evening menu.
She retreated to the chair, ran one fingertip over the polished surface of the rosewood desk, and rearranged her uncle's writing brushes on the lacquered stand. She waited for her heartbeat to calm. Then she gathered up the papers the wind had blown about on the floor and stacked them under a marble paperweight.
There had to be a way to avoid the fate outlined for her in that letter.
Excerpted from The Porcelain Moon by Janie Chang. Copyright ©2022 Janie Chang. Published by HarperCollins Canada. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.