知名癌症醫師山迪和腫瘤學家瑪莉安共同主持一個實驗室,山迪老謀深算、未達目的不擇手段,瑪莉安則是凡事剛正不阿、才華橫溢的女科學家。實驗室的幾位博士後研究員都希望苦熬出頭,包括少時了了但苦無進展的克里夫、年近四十仍希望成為優秀女科學家的若冰、來自中國期盼在美國掙得一片天的范翔等。
正當山迪和瑪莉安打算把兩年沒成果的克里夫掃地出門,他的實驗成果竟然突飛猛進,眾人彷彿絕處逢生,士氣大振,然而若冰懷疑他有造假之嫌。她不顧一切把想法公諸於世,隨之而來的調查引發了一場大風暴,召來了嗜血的媒體、強出風頭的參議員、甚至出動特勤局調查真相,永遠改變了實驗室每個成員的生命……
雅麗嘉.古德曼運用非凡的洞察力、才華洋溢的手法,深刻描寫錯綜複雜的職場倫理、科學家的熱忱與困境、渴求成功時的道德衝突,把每一個主角刻劃得栩栩如生,情節更是緊張懸疑,絕對是一本令人難忘的精彩小說。
★本書中譯本由遠流出版。
作者簡介
雅麗嘉.古德曼
美國極受矚目的新生代作家,她的崛起有如一道閃亮的彗星。1989年自哈佛大學畢業,當天她的第一部小說集《完全體驗》(Total Immersion)在美國出版。接著她進入史丹佛大學攻讀英文學位,取得文學博士後,又發表第二部小說集《馬克維茲家族》(The Family Markowitz),獲得各方好評。1996年,古德曼發表長篇小說《卡特斯齊爾鎮》(Kaaterskill Falls),獲美國國家書卷獎提名,華爾街日報以「天才」來形容她。
時代雜誌更在評論其第二部小說《天堂公園》(Paradise Park)時形容她「如同索爾.貝婁和菲利.普羅斯,完成一部突破之作,展現出一種前所未有的敘事聲調」。
Hailed as "a writer of uncommon clarity" by the New Yorker, National Book Award finalist Allegra Goodman has dazzled readers with her acclaimed works of fiction, including such beloved bestsellers as The Family Markowitz and Kaaterskill Falls. Now she returns with a bracing new novel, at once an intricate mystery and a rich human drama set in the high-stakes atmosphere of a prestigious research institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Sandy Glass, a charismatic publicity-seeking oncologist, and Marion Mendelssohn, a pure, exacting scientist, are codirectors of a lab at the Philpott Institute dedicated to cancer research and desperately in need of a grant. Both mentors and supervisors of their young postdoctoral proteges, Glass and Mendelssohn demand dedication and obedience in a competitive environment where funding is scarce and results elusive. So when the experiments of Cliff Bannaker, a young postdoc in a rut, begin to work, the entire lab becomes giddy with newfound expectations. But Cliff's rigorous colleague- and girlfriend- Robin Decker suspects the unthinkable: that his findings are fraudulent. As Robin makes her private doubts public and Cliff maintains his innocence, a life-changing controversy engulfs the lab and everyone in it.
With extraordinary insight, Allegra Goodman brilliantly explores the intricate mixture of workplace intrigue, scientific ardor, and the moral consequences of a rush to judgment. She has written an unforgettable novel.