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King of the Armadillos
A novel about family, love, and belonging, set against the backdrops of 1950s New York City and Louisiana, following one young man’s quest to survive an often misunderstood disease, and find love, music, and himself, in the process.
Victor Chin’s life is turned upside down at the tender age of 15. Diagnosed with Hansen’s disease, otherwise known as leprosy, he’s forced to leave the familiar confines of his father’s laundry business in the Bronx – the only home he’s known since emigrating from China with his older brother – to quarantine alongside patients from all over the country at a federal institution in Carville.
At first, Victor is scared not only of the disease, but of the confinement, and wants nothing more than to flee. Between treatments he dreams of escape and imagines his life as a fugitive. But soon he finds a new sense of freedom far from home – one without the pull of obligations to his family, the laundry business, or his mother back in China. Here, in the company of an unforgettable cast of characters, Victor finds refuge in music and experiences first love, jealousy, betrayal, and even tragedy. But with the promise of a life-changing cure on the horizon, Victor’s time at Carville is running out, and he has some difficult choices to make.
A page turning work of historical fiction, King of the Armadillos announces Wendy Chin-Tanner as an extraordinary new voice. Inspired by her father’s experience as a young patient at Carville, this tender novel is a captivating and lyrical exploration of the power of art.
Wendy Chin-Tanner is the author of the novel KING OF THE ARMADILLOS and the poetry collections TURN, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award, and ANYONE WILL TELL YOU.
She is the editor of EMBODIED: An Intersectional Feminist Comics Poetry Anthology, co-author of the graphic novel AMERICAN TERRORIST, and co-founder of A Wave Blue World, an independent publishing company for graphic novels.
Wendy’s poems and essays have been featured in numerous journals and publications including the Academy of American Poets, The Rumpus, The Collagist, Salon, Gay Magazine, The Kenyon Review, Literary Hub, and DAME Magazine. Her work has been covered by The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Ms. Magazine, Good Housekeeping, Paste Magazine, Deep South Magazine, and The Southern Bookseller, and she has been featured on ABC News Live Prime with Linsey Davis and NPR.
She was a founding editor at KIN Poetry Journal, a poetry editor at The Nervous Breakdown for over a decade, and staff interviewer at Lantern Review.
Born and raised in New York City, Wendy was educated at Cambridge University, UK where she studied English Literature and Sociology. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her family.
All proceeds from the book go directly to supporting Save Ellis Island's mission to restore the 29 buildings in the Historic Hospital Complex.
