The Man from Beijing

Henning Mankell, a master of Swedish crime noir, has written a series of novels featuring Swedish detective inspector, Kurt Wallender.  One of my favorite Wallender books is The Man from Beijing, and one of my favorite sections of that book follows three young desparate Chinese brothers fleeing across old China, trying to save themselves and stay alive.  Mankell creates a beautiful but brutal world for them and a couple of his descriptions beg to be illustrated.  Here's one:

A Dense Cloud of Butterflies

"The insects were transparent and yellow, and their flapping wings

sounded like rustling paper. San paused in the middle

of the swarm, entranced. It felt like he'd entered a house

with walls made of wings."

(Chapter 10, The Man From Beijing by Henning Mankell, translation copyright  2010)