Perfect

　　繼《一個人的朝聖》後，英國劇作家蕾秋．喬伊斯充滿愛與希望的溫馨力作

　　1972年，為了配合地球自轉的速率，國際標準時間得往前撥快兩秒。拜倫從他的好朋友，也是全校最聰明的詹姆斯那裡聽到這件大事，但他很好奇，時間為什麼能被「改變」？

　　過了不久，拜倫因為母親送他和姊姊上學時的一個致命差錯，習以為常的世界毫無預警地瞬間崩塌。拜倫認定這個意外的罪魁禍首就是多出來的那兩秒。接著發生的事，有沒有機會修正這個錯誤？他與詹姆斯會做出什麼舉動，來讓生活恢復原本的樣貌呢？

　　蕾秋．喬伊斯以洗鍊的文字，透過1970年代小男孩的清澈目光，帶讀者走進外表完美無缺的中產家庭，不動聲色地揭開深藏其中的秘密。（文／博客來編譯）

　　A spellbinding novel that will resonate with readers of Mark Haddon, Louise Erdrich, and John Irving, Perfect tells the story of a young boy who is thrown into the murky, difficult realities of the adult world with far-reaching consequences.

　　Byron Hemmings wakes to a morning that looks like any other: his school uniform draped over his wooden desk chair, his sister arguing over the breakfast cereal, the click of his mother’s heels as she crosses the kitchen. But when the three of them leave home, driving into a dense summer fog, the morning takes an unmistakable turn. In one terrible moment, something happens, something completely unexpected and at odds with life as Byron understands it. While his mother seems not to have noticed, eleven-year-old Byron understands that from now on nothing can be the same.
 
　　What happened and who is to blame? Over the days and weeks that follow, Byron’s perfect world is shattered. Unable to trust his parents, he confides in his best friend, James, and together they concoct a plan. . . .
 
　　As she did in her debut, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Rachel Joyce has imagined bewitching characters who find their ordinary lives unexpectedly thrown into chaos, who learn that there are times when children must become parents to their parents, and who discover that in confronting the hard truths about their pasts, they will forge unexpected relationships that have profound and surprising impacts. Brimming with love, forgiveness, and redemption, Perfect will cement Rachel Joyce’s reputation as one of fiction’s brightest talents.

作者簡介

　　Rachel Joyce is also the author of the Sunday Times and international bestseller The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, shortlisted for the Commonwealth Book Prize and longlisted for the Man Booker Prize. She was awarded the Specsavers National Book Awards 'New Writer of the Year' in December 2012.

　　She lives in Gloucestershire with her husband and four children.