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DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA, by Rita Chang-Eppig
In the early 19th century, Ching Shih, or Cheng I Sao, who would have been called Shek Yeung, rose from prostitution to command tens of thousands of pirates in the South China Sea. Despite the clear dramatic and romantic potential of her story, to the best of my knowledge, before 2019, Ching Shih’s fictional appearances in English were limited to children’s books and cameo roles, including as Moag in the second book of R.F. Kuang’s “The Poppy War” trilogy and Mistress Ching in the third “Pirates of the Caribbean” film. This neglect has been addressed in recent years: Autumn Bardot self-published “Dragon Lady” in 2019, and in 2021, Top Floor Books published Larry Feign’s highly detailed “The Flower Boat Girl.” Rita Chang-Eppig’s debut novel, “Deep as the Sky, Red as the Sea,” now joins them.
The book opens with Shek Yeung’s husband, Cheng Yat, receiving a mortal injury. His dying wish is for the pirate confederation he established to continue. To carry out that wish, Shek Yeung negotiates a marriage to his heir, Cheung Po, with the promise of a son.
Despite the fearsomeness of the historical figure, Chang-Eppig’s Shek Yeung is pensive and passive. She spends more time pondering and reminiscing than swashbuckling or scheming. In combat and at sea, the novel remains impersonal, and most events are narrated rather than experienced. When Shek Yeung disembowels a man, we do not see, hear, feel or smell anything. The book’s more vivid moments are land-bound and domestic, including a striking scene in which the protagonist, as a child, helps butcher an eel; a stroll through a village where cooking smells waft out of windows; and depictions of traditional rituals during Shek Yeung’s pregnancy and childbirth. Only in the last 100 pages, when the Qing emperor’s pirate hunter, Pak Ling, becomes a credible threat, does Shek Yeung blossom into her namesake and act with vitality and resolve.
The strength of Chang-Eppig’s book is the extensive research that colors it. Disparate historical events and details are woven into a continuous backdrop. The novel offers the pleasures of learning about the siege of Fort Zeelandia, coral houses in Taiwan and stilt houses in the Philippines, differences in junk construction, early grenades and smoke bombs, and the sea goddess Matsu, who is Shek Yeung’s favored deity.
The book’s weaknesses include erratic pacing and unskillful language. Though the final third of the novel flows smoothly, earlier battles and conversations are broken up by paragraphs of exposition, dissipating interest. Because the novel’s sentences are rough-hewn, and anything that happens is relentlessly explained, with little left for the reader to interpret or infer, the book gives the impression of having been written for a younger audience.
With some regularity, the author chooses words that are close but not quite right (fish are “incandescent” rather than phosphorescent; bravado is “indigenous” to young men rather than innate or common; a conversation is described as “lulling” into silence rather than subsiding or sinking). She also leaves verbal trip hazards lying about, including an unfortunate comparison of Shek Yeung to her semi-flat-bottomed junk. If language serves as the writer’s paints and brushes, the colors here are muddled, the brushwork hesitant.
That said, the writing is not worse than most of what is being published now, and it is balanced by the delights of Chang-Eppig’s research. Many readers will find the subject matter sufficiently attractive to overlook the faults. The book should appeal to readers of any age who enjoy young adult fiction and less common historical settings, as well as to those who are unfamiliar with Ching Shih.
E. Lily Yu is the author of the novel “On Fragile Waves” and of two forthcoming books — the story collection “Jewel Box,” coming in October, and an essay collection to be published next year.
DEEP AS THE SKY, RED AS THE SEA | By Rita Chang-Eppig | 284 pp. | Bloomsbury | $28.99
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