Tuck Everlasting

　　永恆的生命，是一份祝福？還是一個詛咒？

　　當維妮決定在那個燠熱午後離家出走，
　　在樹林裡發現那座神祕的泉水和狄家人之後，
　　找出解答就成了她無法避免的課題。
　　她願不願意喝下泉水，和狄家人一起踏上永恆的旅程？

人物介紹

　　維妮（Winnie）：傅家的十歲獨生女，家教嚴格，渴望能改變目前的生活。

　　達克（Duck）：狄家男主人。總是面帶憂愁，只有睡著時才會露出微笑。深信萬物自有循環法則，人類不應隨意破壞它。

　　梅伊（Mae）：狄家女主人，溫柔而堅強，隨身帶著一個畫了玫瑰與鈴蘭的音樂盒。為了保護自己的家庭，不惜付出任何代價。

　　麥斯（Miles）：狄家大兒子，勤奮認真，曾經結婚並生下兩個孩子。覺得人生在世就應該要做些有用的事情。

　　傑西（Jesse）：狄家小兒子，個性活潑，不拘小節。覺得生命就應該用來好好享受。

　　穿黃色西裝的陌生人：八月的第一個星期，出現在樹坳村的陌生人。高瘦優雅，微笑有禮，在維妮被狄家人綁架之後，答應替傅家人協助尋找她。

　　Doomed to—or blessed with—eternal life after drinking from a magic spring, the Tuck family wanders about trying to live as inconspicuously and comfortably as they can. When ten-year-old Winnie Foster stumbles on their secret, the Tucks take her home and explain why living forever at one age is less a blessing that it might seem. Complications arise when Winnie is followed by a stranger who wants to market the spring water for a fortune.

　　中譯版由小魯文化出版。

作者簡介

奈特莉．芭比特（Natalie Babbitt）

　　一九七五年所出版的經典小說《永遠的狄家》，讓芭比特成為當代最受讚賞的兒童文學作家之一。作品包括獲得紐伯瑞文學獎的Keen-knock Rise，以及《魔鬼的故事》（The Devil’s Stroybook）、《阿瑪麗麗絲號》（The Eyes of the Amaryllis）等。

　　出生在美國俄亥俄州。並在史密斯大學學習美術，婚後她為丈夫創作的童書《第四十九位魔術師》（The Forty-ninth Magician）繪製插畫，受到編輯鼓勵而開始自寫自畫，以及嘗試寫小說。豐富的想像力及對人物的細膩刻畫，讓她的小說大受歡迎，一寫就是四十年。芭比特育有三名子女，現在居住於羅德島，是「美國國家兒童圖書及讀寫聯盟」成員之一，並義務教授讀寫、文學以及圖書館學。

　　A gifted artist and writer, Natalie Babbitt’s novels are inspired by a brilliance and imagination that is completely original. She began her career in 1966 with the publication of a picture book, The Forty-Ninth Magician, a collaboration with her husband, Samuel Fisher Babbitt. Her first novel, The Search for Delicious, established her gift for writing magical tales with a more profound meaning embedded within them. Kneeknock Rise earned her a Newbery Honor Medal, but it is Tuck Everlasting which has insured Babbitt’s place in the history of children’s literature. This modern classic, which has also been made recently into a major motion picture starring Alexis Bledel, William Hurt, and Sissy Spacek, asks an enduring and powerful question: If we could live forever, would we want to?

　　Babbitt has written six more novels including The Eyes of the Amaryllis and Goody Hall—each one presenting her unique vision of an enchanted world. Her latest novel, Jack Plank Tells Tales, was published in Spring 2007.

　　Natalie Babbitt lives in Providence, Rhode Island, and is a grandmother of three. When asked what she wants readers to remember about her books, she replied, “the questions without answers.”