* Film adaptation I am the Secret in Your Heart released in 2024

An outgoing and optimistic middle school girl falls for an aloof schoolmate, only to have the boy disappear after she accidentally reveals her feelings. Years later she finally learns that she wasn’t alone in her affections….

The outgoing and optimistic Hsiao-hsia, the perfect but aloof Cheng Yi, and the loyal, principled Yu-tzu – three school friends who are thick as thieves, but lack the courage to reveal their true feelings. Together, they leave behind a story of youth that is filled to the brim with each other, yet laced with regret.

Polite, good-looking, and a talented pianist to boot, Cheng Yi is the coveted Prince Charming of his middle school campus. Hoping to stand out from the crowd of Cheng Yi’s fawning admirers, Hsiao-hsia gives him a hard time instead – and it seems to work! Could the normally aloof Cheng Yi be hinting that he has feelings for her, or is Hsiao-hsia just imagining things?

After their graduation ceremony, Hsiao-hsia accidentally reveals her true feelings. Before giving any kind of response, Cheng Yi moves overseas, leaving her heart filled with disappointment and unresolved questions. Having observed these ships pass in the night, Cheng Yi’s close friend Yu-tzu gives up his first choice school so he can attend the same high school as Hsiao-hsia. He even joins the same school clubs so they can be together as her heart slowly heals. The two grow closer, but just as they seem on the verge of becoming an item, Cheng Yi returns from overseas.

At the heart of Lemongrass in Summer are the unspoken affections of youth: those deep, intense loves that only lack for the honesty to reveal themselves – first loves which are not easily forgotten because we’ve already lost the courage to love so deeply, so heedless of the consequences. Noteworthy for its absence of emotional fireworks, Lemongrass in Summer builds its affecting narrative with simplicity and restraint, charging the everyday interactions of school life with an innocent longing that will resonate with all but the most jaded readers. The addition of an epilogue from the perspective of Yu-tzu adds a wistful touch to the novel’s conclusion.