Xie, L: Dream of Flying Flowers

Dream of Flying Flowers is a beautifully written coming-of-age novel. It tells the story ot 15-year-old Lin Sen (Lin being the surname), a high school student from rural China. Bitterly disappointed about his life, family and the whole society, Lin decides to drown himself in a river. However, Lin's suicide is turned into a murder case, and the truth about his death is known only to a mentally ill beggar.

Nostalgic and heart-wrenching, Dream of Flying Flowers is an honest illustration of a Chinese teenager's futile struggle to defy the merciless, crushing weight of social reality. Can anyone ever evade the manipulation of fate? Or, perhaps idealism is only a laughing matter as easily forgiven and forgotten as the fallen cherry blossoms?