Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts

這本由 企鵝出版社（Penguin） 推出的回憶錄，是文壇巨匠 瑪格麗特·阿特伍（Margaret Atwood） 期待已久的自傳性作品，探問「當最偉大的說書人之一，開始書寫自己的故事，會是什麼樣子？」

阿特伍生於一對獨立而科學思維濃厚的父母之家——父親是昆蟲學家，母親是營養師。她的童年大多在魁北克北部的原始森林中度過，生活自由、遷徙不定，有時也孤獨（她回憶自己的八歲生日：「聽起來淒涼。確實淒涼。甚至更淒涼。」），但同時充滿刺激與美感。

在這段非典型的成長背景下，阿特伍展開人生回顧，將重要的生命時刻與其創作聯繫起來——從孕育出《貓眼》的艱難歲月，到 1980 年代分裂的柏林開啟《使女的故事》。書中有波希米亞式的文人聚會、與富有魅力的作家伴侶葛雷姆·吉布森的魔幻生活，以及影響創作與思想的重大政治事件。

讀者將遇見詩人、熊、好萊塢演員，以及宛如阿特伍小說角色般的奇人異士。隨著她的生命旅程推進，我們得以窺見現實與藝術的交織，以及這位偉大創作者的想像力運作之道。

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How does one of the greatest storytellers of our time write her own life? The long-awaited memoir from one of our most lauded and influential cultural figures

‘Every writer is at least two beings: the one who lives, and the one who writes. Though everything written must have passed through their minds, or mind, they are not the same.’

Raised by ruggedly independent, scientifically minded parents – entomologist father, dietician mother – Atwood spent most of each year in the wild forest of northern Quebec. This childhood was unfettered and nomadic, sometimes isolated (on her eighth birthday: 'It sounds forlorn. It was forlorn. It gets more forlorn.’), but also thrilling and beautiful.

From this unconventional start, Atwood unfolds the story of her life, linking seminal moments to the books that have shaped our literary landscape, from the cruel year that spawned Cat’s Eye to divided 1980s Berlin where she began The Handmaid’s Tale. Bursting with bohemian gatherings, her magical life with the wildly charismatic writer Graeme Gibson and major political turning points, we meet poets, bears, Hollywood actors and larger-than-life characters straight from the pages of an Atwood novel.

As we travel with her along the course of her life, more and more is revealed about her writing, the connections between real life and art – and the workings of one of our greatest imaginations.