Half-Blood Blues

2011年布克獎決選名單
入選加拿大吉勒文學獎、總督文學獎

　　這是一部以戰爭為背景的小說。在納粹黨當政後、第二次世界大戰爆發前，德國社會出現許多謠言和局勢不穩定。年輕的Sid是當時頗受歡迎的爵士樂團成員之一，某日演出時，納粹黨員帶走了他們團中的黑人小號手Hieronymus，而Sid是當天唯一親眼目睹整個拘捕過程的樂團成員。

　　許多年過去，再度返回柏林的Sid發現了更多有關Hieronymus被捕前後的驚人真相，也才發現到團員之間竟然一直有著深不可測的秘密。

　　作者在書中細膩刻畫的背叛，讓人不忍釋卷。在那段彼此懷疑的恐怖年代，彷彿任何事都可能以藝術為糖衣，包覆著最苦澀不堪的人生。
(文/博客來編譯)

　　Man Booker Prize Finalist 2011

　　Shortlisted for the Scotiabank Giller Prize

　　Shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction

　　Berlin, 1939. The Hot Time Swingers, a popular jazz band, has been forbidden to play by the Nazis. Their young trumpet-player Hieronymus Falk, declared a musical genius by none other than Louis Armstrong, is arrested in a Paris cafe. He is never heard from again. He was twenty years old, a German citizen. And he was black.

　　Berlin, 1952. Falk is a jazz legend. Hot Time Swingers band members Sid Griffiths and Chip Jones, both African Americans from Baltimore, have appeared in a documentary about Falk. When they are invited to attend the film’s premier, Sid’s role in Falk’s fate will be questioned and the two old musicians set off on a surprising and strange journey.

　　From the smoky bars of pre-war Berlin to the salons of Paris, Sid leads the reader through a fascinating, little-known world as he describes the friendships, love affairs and treacheries that led to Falk’s incarceration in Sachsenhausen. Half-Blood Blues is a story about music and race, love and loyalty, and the sacrifices we ask of ourselves, and demand of others, in the name of art.