內容簡介
內容簡介 英國獲獎無數的新銳才女作家Helen Oyeyemi繼《Boy, Snow, Bird 》和《What Is Not Yours Is Not Yours》後，再度以迷人且充滿想像力的全新作品回歸文壇「優雅的修辭讓這部作品更加閃閃發光。」─艾莉‧史密斯Perdita Lee的外表就和同齡的女學生一般，而Harriet Lee看似只是一個努力融入學校社交圈的職業婦女，但總有跡象可以發現她們母女並不如想像中的平凡。因為她們住在一間金色有七層樓高且佈滿藤蔓的公寓，而她們的主要工作就是在公寓中烘焙及販售薑餅。許多倫敦人可以在這裡享用或外帶美味的薑餅，甚至在遙遠的Druhástrana區都受到廣大熱愛。但其實最喜愛這間薑餅小屋的人，應該是Harriet充滿魅力的兒時好友Gretel Kercheval，只要關於Harriet的各種大小事他都瞭若指掌。多年後，Perdita決定出發尋找母親失去聯繫的好友，也促使人們開始談論Harriet的故事，以及一兩次的重逢機會。隨著故事發展，這家人經歷了妒忌、野心、家庭恩怨、工作、財富和房產爭奪等事件，唯有薑餅是永恆不變及維繫一家人的重要資產。這部作品受到經典童話中的神秘薑餅屋所影響，作者Helen Oyeyemi邀請讀者一同進入一段令人愉快的家庭故事，而他們最珍貴的遺產則是一道食譜。憑藉作者無與倫比的風格和想像力，寫出一段充滿驚喜及歡樂的全新薑餅屋故事。‘A writer of sentences so elegant that they gleam’ - Ali SmithPerdita Lee may appear your average British schoolgirl; Harriet Lee may seem just a working mother trying to penetrate the school social hierarchy; but there are signs that they might not be as normal as they think they are. For one thing, they share a gold-painted, seventh-floor flat with some surprisingly verbal vegetation. And then there’s the gingerbread they make. Londoners may find themselves able to take or leave it, but it’s very popular in Druhástrana, the far-away (and, according to Wikipedia, non-existent) land of Harriet Lee’s early youth. In fact, the world’s truest lover of the Lee family gingerbread is Harriet’s charismatic childhood friend, Gretel Kercheval – a figure who seems to have had a hand in everything (good or bad) that has happened to Harriet since they met.Years later, when teenaged Perdita sets out to find her mother’s long-lost friend, it prompts a new telling of Harriet’s story, as well as a reunion or two. As the book follows the Lees through encounters with jealousy, ambition, family grudges, work, wealth, and real estate, gingerbread seems to be the one thing that reliably holds a constant value.Influenced by the mysterious place gingerbread holds in classic children’s stories – equal parts wholesome and uncanny; from the tantalizing witch’s house in Hansel and Gretel to the man-shaped confection who one day decides to run as fast as he can – beloved novelist Helen Oyeyemi invites readers into a delightful tale of a surprising family legacy, in which the inheritance is a recipe. Endlessly surprising and satisfying, written with Helen Oyeyemi’s inimitable style and imagination, Gingerbread is a true feast for the reader."
