Illustration art done for Belladona-Gardennia.

She writes beautiful novel with young Bai Mudan as main roll.

"Who has ever died from a dream?"

Young Mudan's thoughts echo that of the heroine Du Liniang from her favorite play as she uses her love of art and literature to escape the harshness of the reality around her. Taking place as the Ming Dynasty collapses, the world and life Mudan has always known also begins to fall to pieces, until dreams and fantasies are no longer able to hide from her the cruelties of the real world. Confronted with a dismal arranged marriage and the realization that she had not been as treasured as her family had led her to believe, Mudan throws away reality and immerses herself in her imagination ultimately wasting away as a result as she imitates the self-imposed starvation habits of her favorite heroines. Unfortunately she will find that the worst dream is the sort one can no longer wake up from and that the afterlife can be just as harsh as the living world.

Bai Mudan is a story about finding the strength and courage to live and what it truly means to be alive by one who has already died.