尼芬格繼《時空旅人之妻》,再創不凡佳績!
當妳看著鏡中自己,等於看見了我。
但他愛的是鏡子前的妳,還是鏡中的我?
這是兩對雙胞胎的故事。
艾絲沛和艾蒂是生長於倫敦的雙生姊妹。二十年前,就在艾絲沛與傑克成婚前夕,未婚夫與艾蒂私奔,兩姊妹從此不相往來。艾蒂和傑克在美國重新開啟生活,生下可人的茱莉亞與華倫婷娜,過著看似幸福的日子。
而茱莉亞與華倫婷娜是罕見的對稱雙胞胎,她們心靈相通,同進同出,彷彿過著同一個人生。只是,當華倫婷娜愛上艾絲沛的年輕愛人,她渴望成為獨立的個體、她希冀擁有自己的人生,而不僅是雙胞胎的其中一人……
這是兩對雙胞胎的故事,她們明明是兩個人,卻總被認為是一體。
看著彼此,她們看見的究竟是對方?還是自己?
When Elspeth Noblin dies of cancer, she leavers her London apartment to her twin nieces, Julia and Valentina. These two American girls never met their English aunt, only knew that their mother, too, was a twin, and Elspeth her sister. Julia and Valentina are semi-normal American teenagers—with seemingly little interest in college, finding jobs, or anything outside their cozy home in the suburbs of Chicago, and with an abnormally intense attachment to one another. They are twenty.
The girls move to Elspeth’s flat, which borders Highgate Cemetery in London. They come to know the building’s other residents. There is Martin, a brilliant and charming crossword puzzle setter suffering from crippling Obsessive Compulsive Disorder; Marjike, Martin’s devoted but trapped wife, and Robert, Elspeth’s elusive lover, a scholar of the cemetery. As the girls become embroiled in the fraying lives of their aunt’s neighbors, they also discover that much is still alive in Highgate, including—perhaps—their aunt, who can’t seem to leave her old apartment and life behind.
Niffenegger weaves a captivating story in Her Fearful Symmetry about love and identity, about secrets and sisterhood, and about the tenacity of life—even after death.
★本書中譯版《她的對稱靈魂》由商周出版。
作者簡介
奧黛麗.尼芬格 Audrey Niffenegger
奧黛麗.尼芬格是視覺藝術家,也在高門墓園兼任導覽。她除了暢銷小說處女作《時空旅人之妻》,也著有兩本圖文小說:《不倫三姊妹》(The Three Incestuous Sisters)、《女冒險家》(Adventuress),現居芝加哥。《時空旅人之妻》全球累銷1000萬冊。
Audrey Niffenegger is a visual artist and a guide at Highgate Cemetery. In addition to her bestselling debut novel, The Time Traveler’s Wife, she is the author of two illustrated novels, The Three Incestuous Sisters and The Adventuress. She lives in Chicago.