The Boy in the Striped Pajamas

本書為電影封面版

『一本罕見的傑作，幾近於完美之境！』──【愛爾蘭獨立報】

◎榮獲【愛爾蘭國家書卷獎】年度讀者選書獎等5項國際大獎！
◎入圍【英國國家書卷獎】、【德國青少年文學獎】等16項世界各大好書獎！
◎全世界熱賣突破1,500,000冊！並已拍成電影！
◎蟬連愛爾蘭暢銷排行榜冠軍66週！國際媒體佳評如潮！
◎榮登美國紐約時報、出版家週刊，及英、法、德、西班牙等多國暢銷排行榜！

這不只是關於兩個男孩純真友誼的故事，
也是關於你們、我們和他們的，
一則生命的寓言……

　　《穿條紋衣的男孩》是一本在全世界各地入圍、得獎無數，並且口碑載道、備受讚譽的一本書。通常對於這樣的書，我們都會有很多話想說，都會迫不及待的想要向你介紹劇情，但是這一次，我們決定不那麼做，因為我們認為那將會毀掉你的閱讀樂趣。我們希望，你能夠在完全不知道故事的情況下，自己和書中的男孩布魯諾一起展開這場未知的探險。

　　當你翻開這本書後，你將隨著九歲的布魯諾踏上一段旅程，並且還會跟他一起來到一面圍籬前，認識另一個男孩。無論過去、現在，還是未來，像這樣的圍籬在全世界都有，但我們衷心希望你永遠也不會碰上這樣的圍籬……

　　★本書中譯本《穿條紋衣的男孩》由皇冠出版。

　　Berlin 1942

　　When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

　　But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences.

作者簡介

約翰．波恩 John Boyne

　　愛爾蘭備受矚目的新生代作家。

　　一九七一年生於愛爾蘭都柏林。自都柏林聖三一大學畢業後，於英國東安格利亞大學攻讀碩士學位（該校以創意寫作課程聞名，像《戴珍珠耳環的少女》作者崔西．雪佛蘭等知名作家皆出自該校）。已發表五本小說、一篇慈善性質的中篇小說，以及數篇短篇小說與書評。其中《穿條紋衣的男孩》是他備受各方讚譽的代表作，入圍和獲獎無數。

　　目前他住在都柏林，即將出版個人的第六本小說。

　　◎約翰．波恩英文官方網站：www.johnboyne.com

Chapter One
Bruno Makes a Discovery
One afternoon, when Bruno came home from school, he was surprised to find Maria, the family’s maid — who always kept her head bowed and never looked up from the carpet — standing in his bedroom, pulling all his belongings out of the wardrobe and packing them in four large wooden crates, even the things he’d hidden at the back that belonged to him and were nobody else’s business.

‘What are you doing?’ he asked in as polite a tone as he could muster, for although he wasn’t happy to come home and find someone going through his possessions, his mother had always told him that he was to treat Maria respectfully and not just imitate the way Father spoke to her. ‘You take your hands off my things.’

Maria shook her head and pointed towards the staircase behind him, where Bruno’s mother had just appeared. She was a tall woman with long red hair that she bundled into a sort of net behind her head, and she was twisting her hands together nervously as if there was something she didn’t want to have to say or something she didn’t want to have to believe.

‘Mother,’ said Bruno, marching towards her, ‘what’s going on? Why is Maria going through my things?’

‘She’s packing them,’ explained Mother.

‘Packing them?’ he asked, running quickly through the events of the previous few days to consider whether he’d been particularly naughty or had used those words out loud that he wasn’t allowed to use and was being sent away because of it. He couldn’t think of anything though.In fact over the last few days he had behaved in a perfectly decent manner to everyone and couldn’t remember causing any chaos at all. ‘Why?’ he asked then. ‘What have I done?’

Mother had walked into her own bedroom by then but Lars, the butler, was in there, packing her things too. She sighed and threw her hands in the air in frustration before march-ing back to the staircase, followed by Bruno, who wasn’t going to let the matter drop without an explanation.

‘Mother,’ he insisted. ‘What’s going on? Are we moving?’

‘Come downstairs with me,’ said Mother, leading the way towards the large dining room where the Fury had been to dinner the week before. ‘We’ll talk down there.’