Inside the O’Briens

　　44歲的警官Joe O’Brien住在麻薩諸塞州的愛爾蘭天主教區裡，是鎮裡出名的好丈夫與好爸爸。某天起，Joe發現記憶力減退，經常暴怒，手腳肌肉出現無意識且難以控制地動作。起初他將身體失調歸因於工作壓力，日益嚴重的症狀讓他不得不求助於神經病學專家，才發現自己原來得了「亨丁頓舞蹈症」。從此，O’Brien一家生活開始變調，有五成機率得病的孩子們要不要去做基因篩檢？Joe該如何面對沒有未來的明天？

　　擅長以寫實情節精準描繪疾病與人性的哈佛大學神經科學博士莉莎‧潔諾娃，繼《我想念我自己》與《這就是我來到這世界的理由》兩部感人至深的作品後，此次選擇以遺傳退化性疾病為題，細膩刻劃生命陷落低谷時的內心困頓與面對難關時攜手同行的親情力量，觸動你我心中最柔軟的一隅。(文/ 博客來編譯)
　
　　From award-winning, New York Times bestselling author and neuroscientist Lisa Genova comes a powerful new novel that does for Huntington’s Disease what her debut Still Alice did for Alzheimer’s.

　　Joe O’Brien is a forty-four-year-old police officer from the Irish Catholic neighborhood of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A devoted husband, proud father of four children in their twenties, and respected officer, Joe begins experiencing bouts of disorganized thinking, uncharacteristic temper outbursts, and strange, involuntary movements. He initially attributes these episodes to the stress of his job, but as these symptoms worsen, he agrees to see a neurologist and is handed a diagnosis that will change his and his family’s lives forever: Huntington’s Disease.

　　Huntington’s is a lethal neurodegenerative disease with no treatment and no cure. Each of Joe’s four children has a 50 percent chance of inheriting their father’s disease, and a simple blood test can reveal their genetic fate. While watching her potential future in her father’s escalating symptoms, twenty-one-year-old daughter Katie struggles with the questions this test imposes on her young adult life. Does she want to know? What if she’s gene positive? Can she live with the constant anxiety of not knowing?

　　As Joe’s symptoms worsen and he’s eventually stripped of his badge and more, Joe struggles to maintain hope and a sense of purpose, while Katie and her siblings must find the courage to either live a life “at risk” or learn their fate.

　　Praised for writing that “explores the resilience of the human spirit” (The San Francisco Chronicle), Lisa Genova has once again delivered a novel as powerful and unforgettable as the human insights at its core.