“Concubine” by Elsie Dean: Part
of a double novel from Universal Publishing in 1953. The second novel, “Savage
Mistress” by Jon Hartt, I haven’t read yet. The title is a bit misleading, as
this is not the story of a concubine but a play on Shakespeare’s “Romeo &
Juliet”. Little Flower, of the House of Chiang is left without a family and
taken to live in the House of Wong. The old Wong has a mistress named Morning
Glow, but she’s becoming too old, and tells Little Flower she must escape
before Wong calls her to his bedchamber. She tells her about an American
missionary in town that will help you people, and then devises a plan for her
to escape.
Little Flower escaped and the missionaries take her in. Tom
and Celcilia give her a room, but Celilia does not approve of her, while Tom
helps does. Staying with them is their young nephew, Almose, who they want to
study and become a missionary also. But young Almose has other plans; he wants
to be an artist. When Almose and Little Flower meet they are instantly
attracted to each other, and eventually become lovers. Almose has married her
before God through a painting, but telling her he must leave shortly for
school, but will come for her once he becomes a master artist and created his
masterpiece.
After he leaves, Little Flower discovers she is pregnant.
The story now takes on the harsh reality of betrayal and heartbreak. Tom &
Cecilia take Little Flower and her daughter to America where the young
daughter, Mara (named after the Virgin Mary), has artistic talent like her
father. Little Flower learns that Almose has married another artist and will
never return to her. Lee Yuen, who had met her on the boat to America, knows
the ways of Americans, and their hatred of non-whites, and tells her that she
will eventually need his help. The time comes when her only ally, Tom, dies of
cancer, and Cecilia moves in with her sister, and there is no place for Little
Flower and her daughter.
She goes to Lee Yuen, and he treats her good. She does not
have to share his bed, but keeps house for him, and he promises to wait till
she loves him. However, Mara grows cold against Little Flower for the trouble
her mother has caused her. It has not been easy for Mara being a half-caste.
After graduating high school Mara leaves for New York and art school.
Now the
story comes full circle, as Mara meets her father, and Little Flower discovers
that Lee Yuen is running the largest drug cartel in San Francisco, and she is
little more than a prisoner in the house as Lee Yuen’s madness is now apparent,
and she learns the truth behind the disappearance of Almose, and who was behind
it from the very beginning.
This was
a sad story of two young people torn apart by the madness of someone else, and
their love destroyed for evil purposes, but the ending is heart-warming, and
touches the heart. It is really nothing like I thought it would be, and yet
much better than advertised.
