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☆2009年南非Exclusive Books Boeke Prize桂冠之作,与《追风筝的人》、《朗读者》、《贫民窟的百万富翁》、《时间旅行者的妻子》等共载英文小说史册
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☆《纽约时报》《时代周刊》《今日美国报》《华盛顿邮报》《美国娱乐周刊》《出版商务周报》六大媒体联名推荐
☆2009美国出版界奇迹,版权售出30余国,出版10个月,销量已过100万册
☆这是一个跨越种族、国界的朴素故事,却能在你柔软的内心掀起汹涌波涛
☆惟有爱与相助的光芒,得以救赎世界人的心。
内容简介
Be prepared to meet three unforgettable women:
Twenty-two-year-old Skeeter has just returned home after graduating from Ole Miss. She may have a degree, but it is 1962, Mississippi, and her mother will not be happy till Skeeter has a ring on her finger. Skeeter would normally find solace with her beloved maid Constantine, the woman who raised her, but Constantine has disappeared and no one will tell Skeeter where she has gone.
Aibileen is a black maid, a wise, regal woman raising her seventeenth white child. Something has shifted inside her after the loss of her own son, who died while his bosses looked the other way. She is devoted to the little girl she looks after, though she knows both their hearts may be broken.
Minny, Aibileen's best friend, is short, fat, and perhaps the sassiest woman in Mississippi. She can cook like nobody's business, but she can't mind her tongue, so she's lost yet another job. Minny finally finds a position working for someone too new to town to know her reputation. But her new boss has secrets of her own.
Seemingly as different from one another as can be, these women will nonetheless come together for a clandestine project that will put them all at risk. And why? Because they are suffocating within the lines that define their town and their times. And sometimes lines are made to be crossed.
In pitch-perfect voices, Kathryn Stockett creates three extraordinary women whose determination to start a movement of their own forever changes a town, and the way women—mothers, daughters, caregivers, friends—view one another. A deeply moving novel filled with poignancy, humor, and hope, The Help is a timeless and universal story about the lines we abide by, and the ones we don't.
爱与痛苦,仇恨与信仰,恐惧与勇气,交集在三十万字的分量里,密密麻麻浸润心灵。《相助》一书中作者以细腻真实的笔触重现了60年代美国南部的种族关系,刻画了艾碧莲、明尼、雯三个人物形象,大时代的激流教小人物只能学会隐忍,但当变革的声音从喉咙里发出,饱满而又真挚的感情喷薄而出,谁又能说,这股直抵人心的力量不能给他们的命运带来救赎?本书出版之后,版权被三十多国争先引进,《纽约时报》、《出版者周刊》、《华盛顿邮报》联合推荐 并连续报导,堪称近年来不可多见的力作。
1962年的密西西比,距离奥巴马当选总统还有47个年头。白人男子至高无上,女人是漂亮的摆设,有色人种则是不可接触却又不得不接触的贱民。种族冲突此起彼伏,两个女佣,一个大学刚毕业、涉世未深的小姐,冒险开始她们的变革之路。
我们只是不同的两个人,但我们之间不存在难以逾越的隔阂。远远没有我以为的那么难。
作者简介
Kathryn Stockett is an American novelist from Jackson, Mississippi. She is known for her 2009 debut novel, The Help, which is about African American maids working in white households in Jackson, Mississippi during the 1960s. The novel climbed best seller charts a few months after it was released. Until 2001, Stockett lived in New York City, where she worked in publishing. She currently lives in Atlanta. Reflective of her first novel, Stockett was raised by an African American domestic worker in lieu of an absentee mother.
凯瑟琳·斯多克特,生长于密西西比州首府杰克逊,在阿拉巴马大学获得文学与创作学位,毕业后移居纽约,从事杂志出版与市场工作九年,她目前与丈夫和女儿居住在亚特兰大。本书是她首部小说。
精彩书评
“The Help by Kathryn Stockett is a story that made me weep as I rejoiced for each of humanity’s small but steady triumphs over hate and fear. I will never forget this wonderful book.”
—Dorothea Benton Frank
“A magical novel. Heartbreaking and oh so true, the voices of these characters, their lives and struggles will stay with you long after you reluctantly come to the end.”
—Robert Hicks, New York Times– bestselling author of The Widow of the South
“I love The Help. Kathryn Stockett has given us glorious characters and a powerful, truth-filled story. Abilene, Minny and Skeeter, show that people from this troubled time came together despite their differences and that ordinary women can be heroic.”
—Jill Conner Browne, #1 New York Times Bestselling Author of The Sweet Potato Queens series and resident of Jackson, MS
“Set in the rural South of the 1960's, THE HELP is a startling, resonant portrait of the intertwined lives of women on opposite sides of the racial divide. Stockett's many gifts – a keen eye for character, a wicked sense of humor, the perfect timing of a natural born storyteller – shine as she evokes a time and place when black women were expected to help raise white babies, and yet could not use the same bathroom as their employers. Her characters, both white and black, are so fully fleshed they practically breathe – no stock villains or pious heroines here. I'm becoming an evangelist for The Help. Don't miss this wise and astonishing debut.”
—Joshilyn Jackson, Bestselling author of Gods in Alabama
“A wonderful book. A compelling and comically poignant tale about three women, and a time and a place that is in many ways very much still with us.”
—Beth Henley, Pulitzer Prize– winning playwright of Crimes of the Heart
“Lush, original, and poignant, Kathryn Stockett has written a wondrous novel. You will be swept away as they work, play, and love during a time when possibilities for women were few but their dreams of the future were limitless. A glorious read.”
—Adriana Trigiani, bestselling author of the Big Stone Gap series and Lucia, Lucia
前言/序言
《秘密花园》 作者:弗朗西丝·霍奇森·伯内特 (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 一本关于重生、友谊与自然治愈力量的永恒经典 --- 【图书简介】 《秘密花园》的故事围绕着一个名叫玛丽·伦诺克斯(Mary Lennox)的小女孩展开。玛丽出生于富裕却冷漠的家庭,在印度度过了她生命的前十年。她的父母忙于社交,对她疏于照顾,导致她成了一个脾气暴躁、身体孱弱、毫无生气的孩子。一场突如其来的霍乱夺走了她所有亲人的生命,孤苦伶仃的玛丽被送回遥远的英国,投靠她隐居在广袤庄园中的叔叔——阿奇博尔德·克雷文先生(Mr. Archibald Craven)。 约克郡(Yorkshire)的“鸣叫庄园”(Misselthwaite Manor)是一座古老而阴森的宅邸,常年笼罩在迷雾和悲伤之中。克雷文先生因丧妻之痛而性情大变,将自己封闭在深宅大院里,很少与外界接触。庄园里充满了仆人的低语和挥之不去的哀愁,而玛丽,这个被遗弃的“小刺儿头”,开始在这片陌生的土地上探索她的新生活。 起初,玛丽对一切都感到厌倦和不满。她对周围的环境漠不关心,唯一的慰藉是庄园内几乎被遗忘的那片花园。这片花园,自克雷文先生的妻子(玛丽的婶婶)意外去世后,便被铁锁紧闭了整整十年。园中玫瑰丛生,藤蔓肆意攀爬,杂草丛生,充满了荒凉而神秘的美感。 在当地爽朗的乡村生活和仆人们的熏陶下,玛丽的性格开始发生微妙的转变。她结识了心地善良、充满活力的女仆玛莎·索耶斯(Martha Sowerby),以及玛莎热爱自然的弟弟——迪肯(Dickon)。迪肯是一个与众不同的孩子,他对动植物有着近乎神奇的理解和亲和力。在他的引导下,玛丽第一次真正地接触了泥土,感受到了生命的力量。她不再是一个只顾自己的小公主,而是开始学会观察、付出和期待。 在忠诚的知更鸟的帮助下,玛丽终于找到了打开那扇尘封已久的铁门的钥匙。她偷偷潜入秘密花园,目睹了花园从凋敝走向复苏的过程,这正呼应着她自己内心的觉醒。阳光、泥土和新生的绿意,如同魔法一般,驱散了玛丽身上的病态与孤僻。她开始强健起来,脸上焕发出健康的红晕,眼神中也充满了好奇与喜悦。 然而,庄园内仍隐藏着一个更大的秘密。玛丽在探索庄园的过程中,偶然听说了庄园深处还有一个需要照顾的病弱的表兄——科林·克雷文(Colin Craven)。科林是庄园主人的独子,他从小被告知自己患有脊柱疾病,注定活不久,因此被关在密闭的房间里,任由自己沉溺于病痛的幻想中。他脾气比玛丽当初还要古怪和暴躁,常常歇斯底里地尖叫。 玛丽对科林最初怀有戒心,但善良的冲动最终驱使她去面对这个“被诅咒的孩子”。她将科林带到秘密花园——这个充满了生命力的庇护所。在玛丽和迪肯的共同努力下,他们向科林展示了自然的奇迹和友谊的力量。迪肯的温柔,玛丽的坚定,以及花园本身的治愈魔力,一步步瓦解了科林对疾病的恐惧和依赖。他们鼓励科林站起来,行走,并最终在花园中欢快地奔跑。 随着三个孩子的友谊日益深厚,秘密花园也成为了他们共享的避难所和快乐的源泉。它不仅仅是一片植物的天地,更是他们内心世界重塑的象征。当玛丽、迪肯和科林在花园中欢笑、奔跑、拥抱生命时,他们也无形中治愈了克雷文先生内心深处的伤痛。 最终,当克雷文先生在一次偶然的旅行中预感不安,提前赶回庄园时,他听到的不再是往日压抑的死寂,而是他儿子科林充满活力的笑声。他推开秘密花园的门,看到了一个他从未想象过的场景:他的儿子,不再是一个孱弱的病人,而是一个被阳光、泥土和爱重新塑造的,健康、快乐的少年。 《秘密花园》是一部关于希望、自然力量与内在转变的杰作。它深刻地探讨了:环境如何塑造一个人,以及童年创伤的阴影如何被真挚的友谊和对生命的重新发现所驱散。伯内特以其细腻的笔触,描绘了约克郡荒凉却壮美的风景,以及隐藏在植物深处,那股永不枯竭的生命力。它提醒着每一个读者:无论身处多么黑暗的角落,只要我们愿意去寻找,内心深处总有一片秘密的花园等待着被唤醒。 关键词: 秘密花园、童年、友谊、自我发现、自然疗愈、约克郡、庄园、重生、成长小说。