The Nickel Boys

　　2017普立茲文學獎得主、2016美國國家書卷獎得主，
　　《地下鐵路》科森‧懷海德(Colson Whitehead)最新長篇小說

　　沒有人願意相信他們，直到人們在那個地獄裡，挖出了一大片秘密墓園......

　　每當埃爾伍德(Elwood Curtis)聆聽錄有馬丁路德演說的黑膠唱片，他能感覺到，改變即將到來。非裔美國人民權運動，也將接觸到佛羅里達州塔拉哈西內，這群在種族隔離政策之下被差別對待的黑人群體。埃爾伍德深深將馬丁路德的一席話銘記在心：他和任何人「一樣」好。他被父母遺棄，在祖母的教養之下成長，到了要註冊進入大學的年紀。但身為一個身在1960年代，實行吉姆·克勞法(Jim Crow laws)的美國南方中的黑人男孩，無意間犯下的任何一點小小的錯誤，就足以摧毀你的人生。

　　但在他就學的第一天，埃爾伍德接受搭便車的邀請，但沒想到他搭上的是一台贓車。

　　埃爾伍德因此被判進入一所名叫「鎳克爾學院」(Nickel Academy)的少年感化院。他們聲稱這所感化院旨在提供「身體、智力和道德上的訓練」，因此這些「不良少年」在經過矯正教育後，能成為正直、誠實的人。

　　鎳克爾學院乍看之下，和他即將進入的校園頗為相像，然而真相是，這裡是一個包藏各種醜惡、恐怖之事的所在。

　　殘酷成性的學院雇員，對學員施以毆打和性虐待，貪腐的職員們利用學員們，竊取配給的食物和資源，而任何反抗的男孩，則會被帶到「後面」，然後消失。埃爾伍德震驚於自己身處之處的可怖，起初，他以為自己可以靠著信念撐過去，他的朋友，擁有街頭智慧的透納(Turner)，認為他根本是天真過頭，這是個扭曲的世界，存活下來的方法就是施展陰謀詭計，和設法躲避麻煩。

　　埃爾伍德的理想主義和透納的現實主義結成同盟，引領他們做出一個將對未來帶來深遠影響的決定。而他們在鎳克爾學院內忍受的惡行，也將長久烙印在他們心裡。

　　奠基於發生在佛羅里達州矯正學校的真實故事，這所運作超過一百年的矯正學校，摧毀了上千名孩童的人生。懷海德透過這部小說，重新檢視了美國的暴力歷史，這是一部令人震撼的作品，呈現了一位傑出小說家在創作顛峰時期的驚人成就。(文/博客來編譯)

　　In this bravura follow-up to the Pulitzer Prize, and National Book Award-winning #1 New York Times bestseller The Underground Railroad, Colson Whitehead brilliantly dramatizes another strand of American history through the story of two boys sentenced to a hellish reform school in Jim Crow-era Florida.

　　As the Civil Rights movement begins to reach the black enclave of Frenchtown in segregated Tallahassee, Elwood Curtis takes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King to heart: He is "as good as anyone." Abandoned by his parents, but kept on the straight and narrow by his grandmother, Elwood is about to enroll in the local black college. But for a black boy in the Jim Crow South of the early 1960s, one innocent mistake is enough to destroy the future. Elwood is sentenced to a juvenile reformatory called the Nickel Academy, whose mission statement says it provides "physical, intellectual and moral training" so the delinquent boys in their charge can become "honorable and honest men."

　　In reality, the Nickel Academy is a grotesque chamber of horrors where the sadistic staff beats and sexually abuses the students, corrupt officials and locals steal food and supplies, and any boy who resists is likely to disappear "out back." Stunned to find himself in such a vicious environment, Elwood tries to hold onto Dr. King's ringing assertion "Throw us in jail and we will still love you." His friend Turner thinks Elwood is worse than naive, that the world is crooked, and that the only way to survive is to scheme and avoid trouble.

　　The tension between Elwood's ideals and Turner's skepticism leads to a decision whose repercussions will echo down the decades. Formed in the crucible of the evils Jim Crow wrought, the boys' fates will be determined by what they endured at the Nickel Academy.

　　Based on the real story of a reform school in Florida that operated for one hundred and eleven years and warped the lives of thousands of children, The Nickel Boys is a devastating, driven narrative that showcases a great American novelist writing at the height of his powers.

Review

　　"The acclaimed author of The Underground Railroad follows up with a leaner, meaner saga of Deep South captivity set in the mid-20th century and fraught with horrors more chilling for being based on true-life atrocities.There's something a tad more melodramatic in this book's conception (and resolution) than one expects from Whitehead, giving it a drugstore-paperback glossiness that enhances its blunt-edged impact."- Kirkus Review

　　"Whitehead follows his dynamic, highly awarded, best-selling Civil War saga, The Underground Railroad, with a tautly focused and gripping portrait of two African American teens during the last vicious years of Jim Crow. . . Whitehead’s magnetic characters exemplify stoicism and courage, and each supremely crafted scene smolders and flares with injustice and resistance, building to a staggering revelation."- Booklist Online

　　"Whitehead’s brilliant examination of America’s history of violence is a stunning novel of impeccable language and startling insight."- Publishers Weekly

　　“A gripping and brilliant novel based on a true story about a boys’ reformatory school in Florida in the 1960s. Whitehead is one of the most daring and gifted authors writing these days, and I will never miss one of his books.”- Elizabeth Gilbert, author of City of Girls

About the Author

Colson Whitehead

　　Colson Whitehead is the author of nine books of fiction and non-fiction, including The Underground Railroad, which was a #1 New York Times bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships, he lives in New York City.