Flower Net
Flower Net (1997) by Lisa See is the first of the Red Princess mysteries. The other two novels in the series are The Interior (1999) and Dragon Bones (2003). Flower Net explores the state of US-China relations in the early months of 1997, especially in terms of international politics, human trafficking, and the smuggling of illegal goods such as bear bile, and nuclear trigger devices. It also focuses on human relationships – especially those between father and son, father and daughter. Pam Spencer suggests that the title refers to "the flower net used by Chinese fishermen who throw the mesh wide to trap everything within its reach". Plot summary The time frame for Flower Net is January 10, 1997 – March 14, 1997. The main narrative ends February 13, 1997—just before the death of Deng Xiaoping on February 19. Much of the story involves flashbacks to the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) and its traumatic impact on the lives of a great number of people. The novel's key characters are Liu Hulan, inspector in the Ministry of Public Security and a Red Princess, and David Stark, Assistant U.S. Attorney, who loves her. Gary Krist writes that "Hulan is a provocative mixture of