Laurie Dennis spent years researching and writing her first novel, a work of historical fiction about the founder of the Ming Dynasty. The plan was for The Lacquered Talisman: A Novel of 14th Century China to be available on Feb. 1, an auspicious day during the Chinese lunar new year celebrations. But the fast-spreading coronavirus has derailed the printing and release of her book, which is being published by the Hong Kong-based Earnshaw Books.
“The printing presses completely shut down for about a month. Everything closed,” says Dennis, associate director of the Wisconsin China Initiative and assistant director of the Center for East Asian Studies at UW-Madison. “When they came back, reopening the press was just one step. There were still a lot of workers who had gone home for the holidays and were stuck there.”
Dennis says the publisher told her that even if the presses start, worker shortages mean the book will not be printed “in the foreseeable future.” But they are hoping to print a limited run for book events in March. The Lacquered Talisman is now available in e-book format.
The Lacquered Talisman is a timely story of strength and resilience in the face of war, famine and disease. It follows the childhood of the future emperor and founder of the Ming Dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang. It is based on the first 53 lines of his imperial tomb tablet.
The Emperor, known as Fortune during his childhood, was born into a large peasant family in modern day Fengyang, Anhui Province. He loses the majority of his family to the plague that ravaged China during the 1300s. His last surviving brother, diminished by grief, leaves young Fortune to fend for himself.
Orphaned at 16, Fortune is driven to survive by the sheer force of duty to family. He becomes a monk and joins a Buddhist where he obtains a spirit tablet that allows him to offer prayers and continue to honor the spirits of his family. He eventually becomes a soldier in the Red Turban rebellion that brings down the Mongol Yuan Dynasty. His experiences, particularly during his years as a wandering monk, are about self-discovery as he tries to figure out who he was meant to be.
“The question going through my mind was what makes a person with this kind of background envision himself as a contender for leading their world?” says Dennis. “And to get that answer, I wanted to understand what kind of family he had.”
The Lacquered Talisman makes palpable the pain and fear of impending loss. This loss proved to be metamorphic for China during Zhu Yuanzhang’s lifetime. Dennis believes this is important to think about now as the world grapples with the implications of a pandemic.
When the plague ended, says Dennis, “it didn’t end problems for [Zhu Yuanzhang]. He had lost his whole family and spent the next few decades trying to figure out how to deal with that. I think it’s important to remember that as China comes out of all this, it’s going to be decades of adjusting to the implications of what they’ve been through.”
The Lacquered Talisman was a family project. “My son did the cover,” says Dennis. “My husband is a Ming history professor at UW-Madison and did the map, and my friend from high school took the author picture.”
Dennis is currently working on a follow-up book as she awaits the printing of her first novel.
“It’s hard to even complain about my book being published. It’s such a small part of this global mess,” says Dennis. “I just figure once my book is in stock, it’s a sign to me that life is starting to return to normal in China.”
