Flower Girl: A Burton Family Mystery (25 page)

Author's Notes

There is an extensive fissure in knowledge concerning Korea's Three Kingdoms Era, perhaps most notable in the oldest dynasty, the Silla. Whole histories have been lost in wars. The shift in society from Buddhist to Confucian values also biased the historical manuscripts of dynastic history. History was written by each succeeding dynasty, meaning it was subject to recall and to the biases of each ruler whose intent was to write history so as to validate their family right to successorship. For most kings, successor meant a male heir. Monks and other male scholars were selected to write the recorded histories in accordance with these needs and demands of their rulers.

The two diaries of Princess Deokman/ Queen Seondeok are the fictional creation of the author of this novel. To the best of my knowledge records kept by female shamans of ancient times have never been uncovered at Gyeorgju or elsewhere. It is as if women such as the Wonhwa existed only in a footnote, as if these women never contributed to the spiritual and social development of the peninsula.

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