C2 Sunday, October 4, 2015 | StarNews | StarNewsOnline.com BOOKS

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‘THE SOONG DYNASTY’ Fall used book sale by the New Book Hanover Friends of the Library, 1-5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, at Northeast Regional Library, 1241 Military explores Cutoff Road. Last day — all books 10 cents. Details: 910-798-6301. mothers Soong bio unveils Music Discovery time with N.C. Symphony bass player Erik Dyke, 2-3 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4, at New Hanover in fi ction County Public Library, 201 Chestnut St. Story time and demonstration of new information double bass. Details: 910-798-6303. Going Green/Environmental Book Club discusses “World Peace Diet” He was an important by Will Tuttle, 6 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Old Books on Front Street, 249 N. fi gure in Chinese as Front St. Details: 910-762-6657. BEN STEELMAN well as N.C. history Ilario Pantano discusses his book By Ben Steelman “Grand Theft History,” 6 p.m. Thurs- StarNews Staff day, Oct. 8, at Barnes & Noble, 850 n 2007, Janet Ellerby, Inspiration Drive in Mayfaire Town Center. Details: 910-509-1880. a professor of English It may be as close as Wilm- Second Saturday used book sale I at the University of ington ever comes to a fairy by the Friends of the Leland Library, North Carolina Wilming- tale. In the summer of 1880, a 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Oct 10, in ton, published “Following young Chinese sailor, speak- “Magnolia House II,” just before the Tambourine Man,” a ing broken English, almost new Town Hall parking lot. Details: memoir of her experi- literally washes into the 910-833-2322. ence as a teenage unwed Port City. He accepts Christ Reading and reception with local mother in the 1960s. at a revival meeting and is National Book Award nominees Shipped to a Flor- baptized. Karen Bender and Michael White, 6 ence Crittenden Home Then, local Methodists p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, at Old Books hundreds of miles from (with the help from a real-life on Front Street, 249 N. Front St. where her parents lived, Daddy Warbucks) arrange to Details: 910-762-6657. Ellerby gave birth and, as send him off to college. He Star Wars Reads Day, 10 a.m.- expected, gave her baby goes home, becomes a suc- noon Saturday, Oct. 10, at Northeast up for adoption — a move cessful businessman, gets Regional Library, 1241 Military that left her emotionally into politics and finds himself Cutoff Road. Stories and “Star scarred for decades. Only at the right hand of China’s Wars”-related activities, including later, after marrying and first president. His children a fi ghter navigation course. Details: raising other children was and grandchildren become 910-798-6372. she able to contact and to the equivalent of princes and — Ben Steelman reconcile with her now- princesses. grown daughter. That young man was Now, Ellerby has pub- Charles Jones Soong. Wilm- lished “Embroidering the ingtonians were reminded of BEST SELLERS Scarlet A: Unwed Mothers his story in August when one and Illegitimate Chil- of Soong’s great-grandsons Print and e-editions dren in American Fiction traveled here to be baptized att The Associated Press and Film” (University of Fifth Avenue United Method- Michigan Press, $34.50). ist Church, the same church USA Today’s best-selling books as of The study analyses how where Soong was baptized. Sept. 27 reported from a variety of literature and pop culture Now E.A. Haag of Greens- outlets: bookstore chains, independent treat the “fallen woman.” boro has produced the bookstores, mass merchandisers and The title, of course first full-length biography online retailers. refers to Nathaniel Haw- of Soong since Sterling thorne’s “Scarlet Letter,” Seagrave’s “The Soong and to its heroine, Hester Dynasty” (1985). By combing 1. “Devoted in Death” by J.D. Robb (G.P. Prynne, who delivers a local archives (including back Putnam’s Sons) child while her husband clippings of the StarNews) CHARLIE SOONG: a missionary.ii (Hg(Haag quotes t 2. “The Martian” by Andy Weir (Crown) is away and is sentenced and sources in China, Haag letters suggesting that some 3. “Make Me” by Lee Child (Delacorte) by Puritan magistrates has pinned down a number of North Carolina’s Link to the Fall of his superiors condescended 4. “Why Not Me?” by Mindy Kaling to wear a bright red “A” facts in this remarkable story of the Last Emperor of China to him and didn’t think much (Crown Archetype) sewn to her clothing as that Seagrave didn’t know. By E.A. Haag of his talents.) Instead, he 5. “The Girl in the Spider’s Web” by a sign of her adultery. Haag, for example, has Greensboro: Jaan Publishing, became a publisher, turning David Lagercrantz (Knopf) “Hester finds ways to keep pinned down a birthdate, Oct, $12.95 paperback out Bibles and other books. 6. “Hard Love” by Meredith Wild her dignity,” Ellerby said. 17, 1861, and an original name, Along the way, at a Meth- (Forever) “I wish I’d been as brave as Jiano Zhun. Born on the odist meeting, Soong ran 7. “The End Game” by Catherine Coul- her, but I wasn’t.” island of of China’s “Celestial,” as the newspaper into another Christian con- ter and J.T. Ellison (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) Yet Hester got off Haaka people, he was the somewhat crassly noted, that vert, Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, who 8. “The Scam” by Janet Evanovich and relatively easy. In early younger son of a poor family. many in Wilmington had ever would eventually lead China’s Lee Goldberg (Bantam) American novels, in When a childless uncle, who seen. (In the 1800s, China republican revolutionar- 9. “The Girl on the Train” by Paula more modern classics ran a tea and silk shop in was often referred to as “the ies and become China’s first Hawkins (Riverhead) such as Faulkner’s “The faraway Boston, offered to Celestial Empire” and “Celes- president. Soong was one of 10. “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidy- Sound and the Fury” or adopt the boy, he was sent, no tial” was one of the kinder his closest confidantes and ing Up” by Marie Kondo (Ten Speed) Theodore Dreiser’s “Jenny questions asked, adopting the epiphets applied to Chinese financial backers. 11. “Gray Mountain” by John Grisham Gearhardt,” and even in uncle’s family name, Soong. immigrants.) Soong died in 1918 of kidney (Dell) contemporary movies, the The boy soon tired of a Haag suggests the “Charles” disease and did not see the 12. “Fates and Furies” by Lauren Groff wages of sin, of break- clerk’s life, though. Perhaps came from an English mispro- heights to which his children (Riverhead) ing the code, are death or he listened to other Chinese nunciation of one of Soong’s would rise. One daughter, Ai- 13. “Go Set a Watchman” by Harper ostracism. youths attending nearby Chinese nicknames. The ling, would marry the banker Lee (Harper) By the 21st century, American schools. So he middle name, Jones, long a and future finance minister 14. “Michael Vey 5: Storm of Light- Ellerby finds, the taint sneaked away and enlisted bit of a mystery, appears to H.H. Kung. Another daugh- ning” by Richard Paul Evans (Simon of illegitimate birth on the USS Albert Gallatin, be linked to the boatswain on ter, Ching-ling would marry Pulse/Mercury Ink) has largely faded away. a cutter in the U.S. Revenue the Schuyler Colfax, who’d Sun Yat-Sen. (Her father 15. “All the Light We Cannot See” by Unwed mothers, on Marine, a forerunner of the became a good friend to the opposed the match since Sun Anthony Doerr (Scribner) the other hand, are still Coast Guard. young man. was divorced; it led to a breach 16. “X” by Sue Grafton (Marion Wood required to suffer. Haag quickly dispenses with Through a number of between the two old friends.) Books/Putnam) “Even look at a movie, the myth that Charlie was a locals — Roger Moore and A third daughter, May-ling, 17. “Fatal Frenzy” by Marie Force like ‘Juno,’” Ellerby said. stowaway; his way was paid Fifth Street pastor Thomas would marry the general (Carina Press) In the hit 2007 hit film to Boston, and Coast Guard Paige Ricaud, among others Chiang Kai-shek and become 18. “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper comedy, a pregnant high records indicate he signed on — young Charlie was intro- de facto first lady of China. Lee (Harper) school student gives voluntarily. (As Haag notes, a duced to Julian Shakespeare One son, T.V. Soong, became 19. “Grey” by E.L. James (Vintage) her baby up for adop- cutter would have been a very Carr, a Confederate veteran a prime minister and foreign 20. “Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook” tion; in the ending, she’s small vessel, with not many who went on to become a minister in the National- by Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison seen some months later, places for a stowaway to hide.) tobacco and textile magnate, ist government; other sons (Harmony) apparently happily rec- Nor was Soong a “cabin a sort of honorary “general” became financiers. 21. “Memory Man” by David Baldacci onciled with the baby’s boy,” as many sources put it. and a force in Tar Heel Meth- In “The Soong Dynasty,” (Grand Central Life & Style) father. Coast Guard records indicate odist affairs. Carr arranged Seagrave made clear that he 22. “Eve” by William Paul Young “Everyone’s saying, he was a regular hand with for Charlie to attend Trinity regarded the Soong family, (Howard Books) ‘Omigosh, she’s fine,’” an honorable record, joining College, a small but up-and- especially Madae Chiang, as a 23. “One Year After” by William R. Ellerby said, “but that’s the rest of the crew in tricky coming Methodist College corrupt and malign influence Forstchen (Forge) just six months on. She’s rescues at sea. that would eventually morph on China and on U.S. foreign 24. “Dark Wild Night” by Christina not even aware yet of the Soong seems to have forged into . From policy. Haag, who lived and Lauren (Gallery Books) enormity of what she’s a bond with Eric Gabrielson, there, the young Chinese worked in Taiwan from 1996 25. “Trim Health Mama Plan” by done,” a devout Methodist immi- Christian was hustled to to 2002, tends to take a more Pearl Barrett and Serne Allison Ellerby hopes for grant who was the Gallatin’s for positive view of the clan. (Harmony) novels and films that skipper. When Gabrielson was training as a missionary. Haag reports that Charlie Reporting stores include: Amazon. would better portray the transferred in 1880 to take Haag points out young Soong’s image is on the rise com, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble. complexities of adoles- command of the cutter USS Charlie’s remarkable luck. in China, now that entrepre- com, Barnes & Noble Inc., Barnes & cent girls coping with Schuyler Colfax in Wilming- At a time when anti-Chinese neurs can be heroes there. His Noble e-books, BooksAMillion.com, unplanned pregnancies. ton, Soong arranged to follow sentiment was festering in tomb in , which was Books-A-Million, Bookland and Books “The real stories are out him. California and much of the vandalized in the Maoist “Cul- & Co., Costco, Davis-Kidd Booksell- there,” she said. Still, Haag finds evidence that the American West, Soong landed tural Revolution,” has been ers (Nashville, Memphis), Hudson she thinks even a modern young man stepped forward in one of the few parts of restored. Memorials have been Booksellers, Joseph-Beth Booksellers story of an unwed at a revival at Trinity Meth- America where Asians were a raised to Soong in his native (Lexington, Ky.; Cincinnati, Char- mother will always hold odist Church in Southport. rare novelty, facing virtually Hainan and he’s now the focus lotte, Cleveland, Pittsburgh), Kobo, an element of tragedy, of Soon afterward, he was no racial prejudice. (As Haag of scholarly conferences. Inc., Powell’s Books (Portland, Ore.), suffering and sorrow. formally baptized “Charles also makes clear, though, he Powells.com, R.J. Julia Booksellers Jones Soong” at what was didn’t escape it entirely.) —Contact Ben Steelman at (Madison, Conn.), Schuler Books & —Contact Ben Steelman Music (Grand Rapids, Okemos, East- then Fifth Street Methodist Soong returned to China 910-343-2208 or Ben.Steel- at 910-343-2208 or Ben. wood, Alpine, Mich.), Sony Reader Episcopal Church — the first in 1885 but didn’t last long as [email protected]. Steelman@StarNews Store, Target, Tattered Cover Book Online.com. Store (Denver).