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The story is woven in the time period of when Korea was under the rule of Japan. Has the author portrayed the historical events and settings accurately? How close are they to the actual picture as per your knowledge?

I think the author did a decent job. The general historical facts readily available for public knowledge was followed through. There may have been little drifts in the specifics but nothing to alter the authenticity of the book. Are there particular general and specific deviations you noticed?

Sushan wrote: ↑01 Jan 2021, 00:51 The story is woven in the time period of when Korea was under the rule of Japan. Has the author portrayed the historical events and settings accurately? How close are they to the actual picture as per your knowledge?

Based on the dates and general information I researched, the author is within the timeframe and general information of the time of Japan's rule over Korea. I haven't researched it heavily, but the basics are there for sure.

From what I already knew and from the things I have researched about King Gojong and Queen Min, I think the author closely followed the line of the historical information available about the time period. I'm not so sure about the details concerning the resistance movement. My guess is the author supplemented the missing pieces of historical evidence with abundant imagination.

As this is a fiction piece, the author did not have to closely follow historical details, but seems to. Since we were not there, it is hard to know exactly what is truth and what she has embellished. With her treatment of women she kept to the time period, and with having been born in Korea herself, I imagine she knows quite a bit about that time period, probably having grown up with relatives that lived during that time.

Dee_Robert wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 05:17 I think the author did a decent job. The general historical facts readily available for public knowledge was followed through. There may have been little drifts in the specifics but nothing to alter the authenticity of the book. Are there particular general and specific deviations you noticed?

No. Generally the historical details were well and correctly portrayed. Anyway, I don't think that the author can go beyond the details that are known to general public unless he time travels

The author did a decent job as the history was not far from the real history of the Korea. Have researched more about the Korea and it's a bit similar with what the author wrote.

Considering this is a work of Historical fiction, it is only understandable that historical events should be followed accurately, which I think the author did do well. However, if it was entirely like it happened in reality this book should have been placed under the nonfiction genre. that is why I believe that the shifts she made are "allowable' in fiction.

Accurate is not a word to be used about history. Every country has an entirely different record for the same event. It is based on the subjective description of the people who wrote history, and they tend to present the facts in some direction or other. However, the book follows the main direction as presented in most history books.

This is my first book about historical Korean fiction so I cannot say for sure that the author portrayed it accurately. However to my own uneducated eyes, I would say he did a decent job of reenacting it for us. I was thrilled by the imagery of the book as it gave me a never before seen insight into Korean culture.

I googled a bit about the Korean/Japan oppression and the timelines were more or less the same so I think she portrayed the events and settings accurately. I got the impression that she did her research.

Nqobile771 wrote: ↑13 Jan 2021, 03:29 I googled a bit about the Korean/Japan oppression and the timelines were more or less the same so I think she portrayed the events and settings accurately. I got the impression that she did her research.

I did the same thing. And as far as I know, the book is historically accurate. Of course, it would be very enriching if an OBC member from Korea could give us his or her opinion because sometimes things are very different from the inside.

Following what I have read previously about Korea's history, I think the author did exceptionally well to portray the historical events and settings.

I think the beauty of such a genre is that it requires, in-depth research and the author has done a pretty good job in this area. But again, history is something passed down from one to another, adding something or ignoring some other. It is different from different perspectives.

This is not recent history. So all of us can see only the facts that are stated somew. It is same for the author as well. So, I think she has portrayed it correctly as per the sources that she could refer. Someone who has different references may have a different opinion