Only Lin Shen Knows Lan's Heart

This is not merely a novel about love. It is also a book about “being alive.” Not the kind of life filled with glory and grand ambitions, but the plainest, humblest, most tenacious kind of life ordinary people lead in a time of turmoil. There are no heroes in this book. No generals devising strategies from behind the scenes, no patriots rallying the crowds, no great figures turning the tide. Only a group of little people swept along by the currents of their age: the old hand checking rice on the docks, the orphan fleeing famine, the privileged young lady who returns from studying abroad only to teach in the countryside, and the second brother who gives his pocket watch to his sworn younger brother before setting off alone for a distant place. None of them are important people, and their names will never appear in history books. If you like, open this book on a quiet afternoon or late at night, follow their perspectives, and stay with them through their lives. There's no need to rush ahead. Let the words fall gently into your heart, like rain in Jiangnan.