Quiet, I’m Keeping a High School Diary

This isn’t just a story of sweet romance and turning the tables. It’s a true-to-life chronicle of high school:

· You’ll see Song Yusheng struggling to scrape by in geography, and witness her getting back up again and again until she finally surpasses herself.

· You’ll fret when their relay-race result is disqualified by a fraction of a second, and be moved by the way they support each other through their disappointment.

· You’ll feel Zhang Cheng wavering between friendship and flirtation, yet staying clear-eyed, and He Jinming’s clumsy but steadfast devotion.

· Alongside Chen Jinghuai and Song Yusheng, you’ll experience the unspoken flutter hidden in everyday acts of care, and the understanding that comes from facing the growing pains of adolescence together.

There are endless exercises to finish and tests to take, as well as cheers at the sports meet, fireworks on New Year’s Eve, an umbrella shared in the rain, and a moment secretly captured in the snow. There is also the grief of losing a loved one, the complicated emotions of reuniting with a mother, uncertainty about the future, and the courage to find one’s way through the fog.

This book is for everyone who has experienced, or is experiencing, youth.

It never reaches for sentimentality, yet some small detail will always bring back the person you used to be: a real, vivid teenager who was upset over a bad test score, comforted by a friend’s words, lost in thought late at night, and still able to keep going because of a little starlight.