All The Broken Places《那些破碎的地方》John Boyne
《穿條紋衣的男孩》動人續曲,
約翰‧波恩寫作生涯最高傑作!
我知道你未曾離開,
在綿長的思念裡,在永恆的愛裡,
在那遙遠的,另一個地方……
葛蕾朵這輩子走過許多地方,如今她住在倫敦富裕的公寓社區安度晚年,丈夫已先一步辭世。她為人和善,偶爾會到鄰居家串門子,她的兒子準備梅開四度,雖然母子關係不錯,但她曾在兒子9歲時缺席了整整一年……從好久以前,她就不擅長與小男孩相處。
直到新鄰居搬進公寓樓下,讓她平靜的生活再起波瀾。他們是三口之家,父親是電影製片,成功卻自大無禮;母親曾是演員,容貌美麗,卻藏不住深深的憂鬱;還有9歲的男孩亨利,天真無邪,喜歡冒險故事。
一天夜裡,葛蕾朵被樓下傳來的爭執聲驚醒,憤怒失控的男人正在對痛苦無助的母子施暴。當她目睹了這起暴行,腦海中一段塵封已久的記憶也被喚醒。她還記得「那件事」,她還記得她的弟弟布魯諾,她還記得那個穿條紋衣的男孩。
葛蕾朵從來沒有告訴別人,自從「那件事」以後,她餘生的每一步,都踏在崩裂之處。如今當亨利遍體鱗傷地站在她面前,悔恨與愧疚有如洶湧的浪潮狠狠朝她襲來。這一次,她無法視若無睹,她決定要不惜一切代價捍衛他,為了那個她費盡一生思念的人……
Ninety-one-year-old Gretel Fernsby has lived in the same mansion block in London for decades. She leads a comfortable, quiet life, despite her dark and disturbing past. She doesn't talk about her escape from Germany over seventy years before. She doesn't talk about the post-war years in France with her mother. Most of all, she doesn't talk about her father, the commandant of one of the most notorious Nazi concentration camps.
Then, a young family moves into the apartment below her. In spite of herself, Gretel can't help but begin a friendship with the little boy, Henry, though his presence brings back memories she would rather forget. One night, she witnesses a violent argument between Henry's mother and his domineering father, one that threatens Gretel's hard-won, self-contained existence.
Gretel is faced with a chance to expiate her guilt, grief and remorse and act to save a young boy - for the second time in her life. But to do so, she will be forced to reveal her true identity to the world. Will she make a different choice this time, whatever the cost to herself?
All the Broken Places is a devastating, beautiful story about a woman who must confront the sins of her past and a present in which it is never too late for bravery.