編輯推薦
☆2009年南非Exclusive Books Boeke Prize桂冠之作,與《追風箏的人》、《朗讀者》、《貧民窟的百萬富翁》、《時間旅行者的妻子》等共載英文小說史冊
☆2010年女性文學柑橘奬入圍作品,奧普拉俱樂部強力推薦,夢工廠《哈利·波特》原班人馬電影改編緊急進行中
☆《紐約時報》《時代周刊》《今日美國報》《華盛頓郵報》《美國娛樂周刊》《齣版商務周報》六大媒體聯名推薦
☆2009美國齣版界奇跡,版權售齣30餘國,齣版10個月,銷量已過100萬冊
☆這是一個跨越種族、國界的樸素故事,卻能在你柔軟的內心掀起洶湧波濤
☆惟有愛與相助的光芒,得以救贖世界人的心。
內容簡介
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.
愛與痛苦,仇恨與信仰,恐懼與勇氣,交集在三十萬字的分量裏,密密麻麻浸潤心靈。《相助》一書中作者以細膩真實的筆觸重現瞭60年代美國南部的種族關係,刻畫瞭艾碧蓮、明尼、雯三個人物形象,大時代的激流教小人物隻能學會隱忍,但當變革的聲音從喉嚨裏發齣,飽滿而又真摯的感情噴薄而齣,誰又能說,這股直抵人心的力量不能給他們的命運帶來救贖?本書齣版之後,版權被三十多國爭先引進,《紐約時報》、《齣版者周刊》、《華盛頓郵報》聯閤推薦 並連續報導,堪稱近年來不可多見的力作。
1962年的密西西比,距離奧巴馬當選總統還有47個年頭。白人男子至高無上,女人是漂亮的擺設,有色人種則是不可接觸卻又不得不接觸的賤民。種族衝突此起彼伏,兩個女傭,一個大學剛畢業、涉世未深的小姐,冒險開始她們的變革之路。
我們隻是不同的兩個人,但我們之間不存在難以逾越的隔閡。遠遠沒有我以為的那麼難。
作者簡介
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.
凱瑟琳·斯多剋特,生長於密西西比州首府傑剋遜,在阿拉巴馬大學獲得文學與創作學位,畢業後移居紐約,從事雜誌齣版與市場工作九年,她目前與丈夫和女兒居住在亞特蘭大。本書是她首部小說。
精彩書評
“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
《秘密花園》 作者:弗朗西絲·霍奇森·伯內特 (Frances Hodgson Burnett) 一本關於重生、友誼與自然治愈力量的永恒經典 --- 【圖書簡介】 《秘密花園》的故事圍繞著一個名叫瑪麗·倫諾剋斯(Mary Lennox)的小女孩展開。瑪麗齣生於富裕卻冷漠的傢庭,在印度度過瞭她生命的前十年。她的父母忙於社交,對她疏於照顧,導緻她成瞭一個脾氣暴躁、身體孱弱、毫無生氣的孩子。一場突如其來的霍亂奪走瞭她所有親人的生命,孤苦伶仃的瑪麗被送迴遙遠的英國,投靠她隱居在廣袤莊園中的叔叔——阿奇博爾德·剋雷文先生(Mr. Archibald Craven)。 約剋郡(Yorkshire)的“鳴叫莊園”(Misselthwaite Manor)是一座古老而陰森的宅邸,常年籠罩在迷霧和悲傷之中。剋雷文先生因喪妻之痛而性情大變,將自己封閉在深宅大院裏,很少與外界接觸。莊園裏充滿瞭僕人的低語和揮之不去的哀愁,而瑪麗,這個被遺棄的“小刺兒頭”,開始在這片陌生的土地上探索她的新生活。 起初,瑪麗對一切都感到厭倦和不滿。她對周圍的環境漠不關心,唯一的慰藉是莊園內幾乎被遺忘的那片花園。這片花園,自剋雷文先生的妻子(瑪麗的嬸嬸)意外去世後,便被鐵鎖緊閉瞭整整十年。園中玫瑰叢生,藤蔓肆意攀爬,雜草叢生,充滿瞭荒涼而神秘的美感。 在當地爽朗的鄉村生活和僕人們的熏陶下,瑪麗的性格開始發生微妙的轉變。她結識瞭心地善良、充滿活力的女僕瑪莎·索耶斯(Martha Sowerby),以及瑪莎熱愛自然的弟弟——迪肯(Dickon)。迪肯是一個與眾不同的孩子,他對動植物有著近乎神奇的理解和親和力。在他的引導下,瑪麗第一次真正地接觸瞭泥土,感受到瞭生命的力量。她不再是一個隻顧自己的小公主,而是開始學會觀察、付齣和期待。 在忠誠的知更鳥的幫助下,瑪麗終於找到瞭打開那扇塵封已久的鐵門的鑰匙。她偷偷潛入秘密花園,目睹瞭花園從凋敝走嚮復蘇的過程,這正呼應著她自己內心的覺醒。陽光、泥土和新生的綠意,如同魔法一般,驅散瞭瑪麗身上的病態與孤僻。她開始強健起來,臉上煥發齣健康的紅暈,眼神中也充滿瞭好奇與喜悅。 然而,莊園內仍隱藏著一個更大的秘密。瑪麗在探索莊園的過程中,偶然聽說瞭莊園深處還有一個需要照顧的病弱的錶兄——科林·剋雷文(Colin Craven)。科林是莊園主人的獨子,他從小被告知自己患有脊柱疾病,注定活不久,因此被關在密閉的房間裏,任由自己沉溺於病痛的幻想中。他脾氣比瑪麗當初還要古怪和暴躁,常常歇斯底裏地尖叫。 瑪麗對科林最初懷有戒心,但善良的衝動最終驅使她去麵對這個“被詛咒的孩子”。她將科林帶到秘密花園——這個充滿瞭生命力的庇護所。在瑪麗和迪肯的共同努力下,他們嚮科林展示瞭自然的奇跡和友誼的力量。迪肯的溫柔,瑪麗的堅定,以及花園本身的治愈魔力,一步步瓦解瞭科林對疾病的恐懼和依賴。他們鼓勵科林站起來,行走,並最終在花園中歡快地奔跑。 隨著三個孩子的友誼日益深厚,秘密花園也成為瞭他們共享的避難所和快樂的源泉。它不僅僅是一片植物的天地,更是他們內心世界重塑的象徵。當瑪麗、迪肯和科林在花園中歡笑、奔跑、擁抱生命時,他們也無形中治愈瞭剋雷文先生內心深處的傷痛。 最終,當剋雷文先生在一次偶然的旅行中預感不安,提前趕迴莊園時,他聽到的不再是往日壓抑的死寂,而是他兒子科林充滿活力的笑聲。他推開秘密花園的門,看到瞭一個他從未想象過的場景:他的兒子,不再是一個孱弱的病人,而是一個被陽光、泥土和愛重新塑造的,健康、快樂的少年。 《秘密花園》是一部關於希望、自然力量與內在轉變的傑作。它深刻地探討瞭:環境如何塑造一個人,以及童年創傷的陰影如何被真摯的友誼和對生命的重新發現所驅散。伯內特以其細膩的筆觸,描繪瞭約剋郡荒涼卻壯美的風景,以及隱藏在植物深處,那股永不枯竭的生命力。它提醒著每一個讀者:無論身處多麼黑暗的角落,隻要我們願意去尋找,內心深處總有一片秘密的花園等待著被喚醒。 關鍵詞: 秘密花園、童年、友誼、自我發現、自然療愈、約剋郡、莊園、重生、成長小說。