King of the armadillos

Poet and boutique graphic publisher Chin-Tanner (Embodied, 2021) opens her debut novel with an autobiographical hint: "for my dad and for Carville, for without them, I would not be here." From 1894 to 1999, Carville National Leprosarium was the only inpatient hospital in the continental U.S. for the treatment of Hansen's disease, historically called leprosy. Chin-Tanner sets her epic here in the 1950s, when Chinese American teen Victor arrives. Born in China, Victor and his older brother left their mother to live with their father in New York City. Victor's not-quite stepmother, Ruth, is the one person who notices his lesions and guides him on a path to possible recovery. His Carville residency is haunted by his almost-unrequited love for "the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen"; his musical prowess will also be discovered and nurtured there. Chin-Tanner's exacting details render little-known medical history, deftly interwoven with the Chinese American experience, from paper sons to debilitating racism to bifurcated identity, to create a satisfying, polyphonic narrative about the intricate relationships within families by birth and circumstance.

Poet Chin-Tanner debuts with the poignant if somewhat mechanical story of a Chinese American family in the 1950s. Victor, eight, and his 13-year-old brother, Henry, leave their loving mother Mei Wan in China to settle in New York City with their father, Sam. Henry feels betrayed that Sam has taken up with a Jewish New Yorker named Ruth, who tries to love the brothers as her own children. She notices a rash on Victor shortly before he begins to have painful symptoms and is diagnosed at 15 with Hansen's disease, also known as leprosy. Due to Sam's U.S. military service in WWII, Victor is eligible for treatment at a government hospital and sent to one in Louisiana. There, he discovers his talent for the piano. He falls for fellow patient Judy, a Jewish girl who's mistreated by her beau, Donny, a handsome Chinese teenager. Henry cautions Victor against telling their mother about his condition in his letters home to her. It all comes to a head when Ruth finds out she's pregnant and Mei Wan announces she's coming to New York. Though the plotlines feel a bit rote, Chin-Tanner shines in her depictions of loyalty and familial obligation, Ruth's in particular. Though clunky at times, the multicultural elements add an appealing layer to this drama. (July)