Winter of the World

　　傳世經典《上帝之柱》作者肯‧弗雷特最新史詩鉅著！

　　肯‧弗雷特繼長篇歷史小說《世紀三部曲》(Century Trilogy)系列首部曲《Fall of Giants》創下版權預付金的史上最高紀錄後，眾所矚目下，第二本《Winter of the World》隆重登場。

　　延續前一集內容，《Winter of the World》以五個背景迥異的家族人物為線索，主角有美國總統參謀、俄國兄弟、英國貴族、礦工到德國間諜，作者擅長將歷史上的真實事件與虛構的小說情節兩相交融，包括第三帝國的興起、西班牙內戰、第二次世界大戰以及美蘇兩國的核彈競賽等政經動盪，都成為書中人物生命歷程的一部份。

　　跌宕起伏的故事、虛實穿插的人物，《Winter of the World》將帶給書迷更深的閱讀感動！

(文/博客來編譯)

　　Ken Follett follows up his #1 New York Times bestseller Fall of Giants with a brilliant, page-turning epic about the heroism and honor of World War II, and the dawn of the atomic age.

　　Ken Follett’s Fall of Giants, the first novel in his extraordinary new historical epic, The Century Trilogy, was an international sensation, acclaimed as “sweeping and fascinating, a book that will consume you for days or weeks” (USA Today) and “grippingly told and readable to the end” (The New York Times Book Review). “If the next two volumes are as lively and entertaining as Fall of Giants,” said The Washington Post, “they should be well worth waiting for.”

　　Winter of the World picks up right where the first book left off, as its five interrelated families—American, German, Russian, English, Welsh—enter a time of enormous social, political, and economic turmoil, beginning with the rise of the Third Reich, through the Spanish Civil War and the great dramas of World War II, up to the explosions of the American and Soviet atomic bombs.

　　Carla von Ulrich, born of German and English parents, finds her life engulfed by the Nazi tide until she commits a deed of great courage and heartbreak. . . . American brothers Woody and Chuck Dewar, each with a secret, take separate paths to momentous events, one in Washington, the other in the bloody jungles of the Pacific. . . . English student Lloyd Williams discovers in the crucible of the Spanish Civil War that he must fight Communism just as hard as Fascism. . . . Daisy Peshkov, a driven American social climber, cares only for popularity and the fast set, until the war transforms her life, not just once but twice, while her cousin Volodya carves out a position in Soviet intelligence that will affect not only this war—but the war to come.

　　These characters and many others find their lives inextricably entangled as their experiences illuminate the cataclysms that marked the century. From the drawing rooms of the rich to the blood and smoke of battle, their lives intertwine, propelling the reader into dramas of ever-increasing complexity.

　　As always with Ken Follett, the historical background is brilliantly researched and rendered, the action fast-moving, the characters rich in nuance and emotion. With passion and the hand of a master, he brings us into a world we thought we knew, but now will never seem the same again.