Change of Heart

你願意接受死刑犯的器官移植嗎？
而且
他還是殺害你至親的兇手！

　　小說內容以一樁死刑犯捐贈心臟事件，來探討並引領讀者思索故事中涉及的各方面爭議。書中各章由小說裡的各個角色以第一人稱現身說法，敘述身為美國新罕布夏州（New Hampshire）第一位死刑囚犯的Shay Bourne，要求在行刑之後，將自己的心臟捐贈給該案受害者正等待心臟移植的妹妹，因為他認為這是他自我救贖的方式。然而，受邀擔任Shay Bourne心靈諮商的神職人員Michael Wright，卻認為捐贈器官對於所謂救贖，根本無濟於事，並試圖以此說服Shay Bourne。而對於等待心臟移植的June Nealon來說，原本她在自己的生活中，正幸福地盼望充滿歡笑的未來，但因此事，導致她的生命可謂成為一場等待的遊戲——除了等待時間使她的傷口癒合，同時也等待正義、等待奇蹟。故事就在其間的種種矛盾糾葛中緩緩開展。

本書特色

★暢銷作家茱迪．皮考特2008年最新作品！
★連續數週蟬連紐約時報銷售排行榜冠軍，再度引起廣泛好評！
★書中「捐贈器官」議題再度被讀者在網路上廣泛討論！
★媒體評論其精采度與重要性不輸《達文西密碼》，並被評為與電影《綠色奇蹟》般觸動人心！

★本書中文版《換心》由台灣商務出版

　　The acclaimed #1 New York Times bestselling author presents a spellbinding tale of a mother’s tragic loss and one man’s last chance at gaining salvation.

　　Can we save ourselves, or do we rely on others to do it? Is what we believe always the truth?

　　One moment June Nealon was happily looking forward to years full of laughter and adventure with her family, and the next, she was staring into a future that was as empty as her heart. Now her life is a waiting game. Waiting for time to heal her wounds, waiting for justice. In short, waiting for a miracle to happen.

　　For Shay Bourne, life holds no more surprises. The world has given him nothing, and he has nothing to offer the world. In a heartbeat, though, something happens that changes everything for him. Now, he has one last chance for salvation, and it lies with June’s eleven-year-old daughter, Claire. But between Shay and Claire stretches an ocean of bitter regrets, past crimes, and the rage of a mother who has lost her child.

　　Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy’s dying wish?

　　Once again, Jodi Picoult mesmerizes and enthralls readers with this story of redemption, justice, and love.

作者簡介

茱迪．皮考特（Jodi Picoult）

　　1967年生於紐約長島。普林斯頓大學創意寫作學士，哈佛教育碩士。

　　1992年第一本小說Songs of the Humpback Whale甫出版便造成轟動，目前已出版十餘本備受好評的著作： Harvesting the Heart （1994）、Picture Perfect（1995）、 Mercy （1996）、《死亡約定》（1998）、 Keeping Faith（1999）、 Plain Truth（2000）、 Salem Falls（2001）、 Perfect Match（2002）、 Second Glance（2003）、《姊姊的守護者》（My Sister’s Keeper, 2004）、Vanishing Acts（2005）、《第十層地獄》（The Tenth Circle, 2006）、《事發的19分鐘》（Nineteen Minutes, 2007）、《換心》（Change of Heart, 2008）、Handle with Care（2009）。2007年她還為DC漫畫出版社寫了幾期的《神力女超人》（Wonder Woman）。皮考特眾多著作中的《死亡約定》、Plain Truth已被改編成電視電影集，而《姊姊的守護者》電影版則將於2009年7月上映，由好萊塢女星卡麥蓉狄亞領銜主演。

　　皮考特擅於寫作充滿道德爭議的小說。她的作品已經被翻譯成三十多種語言，並在四十餘個國家發行銷售。其在2003年獲得美國新英格蘭最佳小說獎，並榮登《紐約時報》暢銷作家之列，多部作品皆一出版便盤據《紐約時報》暢銷書排行榜第一名數週之久。《華盛頓郵報》更將皮考特譽為大師級作家。目前皮考特和丈夫及三個子女住在新罕布夏州。網址：www.jodipicoult.com。

PROLOGUE: 1996

June

In the beginning, I believed in second chances. How else could I account for the fact that years ago, right after the accident -- when the smoke cleared and the car had stopped tumbling end over end to rest upside down in a ditch -- I was still alive; I could hear Elizabeth, my little girl, crying? The police officer who had pulled me out of the car rode with me to the hospital to have my broken leg set, with Elizabeth -- completely unhurt, a miracle -- sitting on his lap the whole time. He’d held my hand when I was taken to identify my husband Jack’s body. He came to the funeral. He showed up at my door to personally inform me when the drunk driver who ran us off the road was arrested.

The policeman’s name was Kurt Nealon. Long after the trial and the conviction, he kept coming around just to make sure that Elizabeth and I were all right. He brought toys for her birthday and Christmas. He fixed the clogged drain in the upstairs bathroom. He came over after he was off duty to mow the savannah that had once been our lawn.

I had married Jack because he was the love of my life; I had planned to be with him forever. But that was before the definition of forever was changed by a man with a blood alcohol level of .22.

I was surprised that Kurt seemed to understand that you might never love someone as hard as you had the first time you’d fallen; I was even more surprised to learn that maybe you could.

Five years later, when Kurt and I found out we were going to have a baby, I almost regretted it -- the same way you stand beneath a perfect blue sky on the most glorious day of the summer and admit to yourself that all moments from here on in couldn’t possibly measure up. Elizabeth had been two when Jack died; Kurt was the only father she’d ever known. They had a connection so special it sometimes made me feel I should turn away, that I was intruding. If Elizabeth was the princess, then Kurt was her knight.

The imminent arrival of this little sister (how strange is it that none of us ever imagined the new baby could be anything but a girl?) energized Kurt and Elizabeth to fever pitch. Elizabeth drew elaborate sketches of what the baby’s room should look like. Kurt hired a contractor to build the addition. But then the builder’s mother had a stroke and he had to move unexpectedly to Florida; none of the other crews had time to fit our job into their schedules before the baby’s birth. We had a hole in our wall and rain leaking through the attic ceiling; mildew grew on the soles of our shoes.

When I was seven months pregnant, I came downstairs to find Elizabeth playing in a pile of leaves that had blown past the plastic sheeting into the living room. I was deciding between crying and raking my carpet when the doorbell rang.

He was holding a canvas roll that contained his tools, something that never left his possession, like another man might tote around his wallet. His hair brushed his shoulders and was knotted. His clothes were filthy and he smelled of snow -- although it wasn’t the right season. Shay Bourne arrived, unexpected, like a flyer from a summer carnival that blusters in on a winter wind, making you wonder just where it’s been hiding all this time.

He had trouble speaking -- the words tangled, and he had to stop and unravel them before he could say what he needed to say. ”I want to...” he began, and then started over: ”Do you, is there, because...” The effort made a fine sweat break out on his forehead. ”Is there anything I can do?” he finally managed, as Elizabeth came running toward the front door.

You can leave, I thought. I started to close the door, instinctively protecting my daughter. ”I don’t think so...”

Elizabeth slipped her hand into mine and blinked up at him. ”There’s a lot that needs to be fixed,” she said.

He got down to his knees then and spoke to my daughter easily -- words that had been full of angles and edges for him a minute before now flowed like a waterfall. ”I can help,” he replied.

Kurt was always saying people are never who you think they are, that it was necessary to get a complete background check on a person before you made any promises. I’d tell him he was being too suspicious, too much the cop. After all, I had let Kurt himself into my life simply because he had kind eyes and a good heart, and even he couldn’t argue with the results.

”What’s your name?” I asked.

”Shay. Shay Bourne.”

”You’re hired, Mr. Bourne,” I said, the beginning of the end.