Astray

以《房間》蜚聲文壇的愛爾蘭作家愛瑪．唐納修最新短篇故事集

　　書中的故事以橫跨四個世紀的史實做為串連，自清教徒居住的保守麻塞諸塞州到力圖革新的紐澤西州，從內戰前的路易斯安那州到近代多倫多的高速公路上。每一則故事裡的主角，都是人生路上的迷途羔羊，尋尋覓覓、跌跌撞撞，只為找到一條屬於自己的出路。

　　這些主角包括了維多利亞時期，以接客賣淫支撐家計的婦人；南北大戰開打前夕，一個準備與情婦逃離管束的黑奴；內心被仇恨隱蔽，計畫對藐視他的婦人復仇的清教徒……。無論他們的身份是新移民、流浪漢、戀人、礦工、律師或奴隸，都主動或被迫地跨過了種族、階級、法律、性與理智的界線，只為了追求生命裡最重要的事物──愛或財富。

　　個性鮮明的角色、感人肺腑的情節，愛瑪．唐納修以這部新作再次證明了自己堅強的寫作實力，不容小覷。（文/博客來編譯）

　　The fascinating characters that roam across the pages of Emma Donoghue’s stories have all gone astray: they are emigrants, runaways, drifters, lovers old and new. They are gold miners and counterfeiters, attorneys and slaves. They cross other borders too: those of race, law, sex, and sanity. They travel for love or money, incognito or under duress.

　　With rich historical detail, the celebrated author of Room takes us from puritan Massachusetts to revolutionary New Jersey, antebellum Louisiana to the Toronto highway, lighting up four centuries of wanderings that have profound echoes in the present. Astray offers us a surprising and moving history for restless times.