First Snow, Warm Sun Again

This is a book for all the children who were forced to grow up. It is about love and growing up, about hard work and what it brings. It is also about the importance of a child’s environment. The story revolves around the three Shen siblings. Their once peaceful, happy family was changed forever by a decision their father made on a whim, forcing the three siblings into very different lives. Their parents abandoned the ten-year-old older brother and six-year-old younger brother, leaving them to face the harshness of the world alone as they stumbled in search of a faint glimmer of hope and happiness. The brothers are also sometimes troubled by the question of whether their sister, taken away by their parents, will have a happy life. Jiang Wanyou. Yu Lai. They each have a past they keep secret, one they are reluctant to reveal. In the sunlight, they may seem happy, radiant, or ordinary. But once they retreat into the dark, they sometimes reopen their wounds and gently lick them clean. Xu Ruoxian is much like any ordinary person among the countless people in this world. She can be insecure, jealous, hesitant, loyal, in love with someone who doesn’t love her back, remorseful, and introspective… We cannot choose where we are born, nor can we foresee the future. Some people cast into the gutter find their way into the light. Others fall into hell. Most… are forgotten. May all children be free to follow their nature, learning to be carefree and innocent before becoming mature and steady. May all the children forced to grow up endure the winters and summers, and finally welcome a warm spring.