BLOOD KIN
Book ID/图书代码： 00970008B20127
English Summary/英文概要： A barber, a chef and a portraitist are held hostage in a sparsely-furnished room, in a grand summer residence perched on a hill overlooking the capital city of a nameless hot country. They have been seized in a bloody coup to depose the President, their boss. In the city streets below them, chaos reigns. With the old order ruined, the moral landscape ravaged and venality widespread, human relationships - personal and political, between lovers and within families - are being dissected, fought over, abandoned. As the tension builds and the story reaches its devastating climax, "Blood Kin" lays bare humanity’s most animalistic and mercenary impulses: lust, vanity, ambition, artifice, betrayal, obsession and vengeance. The locations are lavish, the detail is scrupulous, and the scope and themes are nothing short of Shakespearean. "Blood Kin" is a masterful, thrilling and deeply affecting debut.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 總統的廚師、 肖像畫家、理髮師三人在一次政變中，因老闆的下台被當成人質，三人被囚禁在市中心山上的官邸裡。而廚師的女兒、畫家的老婆、理髮師的情人只能在混亂的山下中盼望他們早日的歸來。卻也在這動蕩不安的時刻，他們與親人的關係不僅產生變化，就如同執政者的下台，掩蓋在他們三人之間真相面紗也慢慢的脫落…
作者並無設定其發生的年代、地點，甚至三位主角也無真實的姓名，完全透過故事的鋪陳及想像，深入刻畫人性中最深層及原始的面貌。
Awards/获奖情况：Anthropology doctoral student Dovey’s smart debut novel traces events in the lives of three functionaries in the entourage of the president of an unnamed country who is overthrown by the Commander. Dovey divides the book into three sections. The first section is devoted to the three men: the president’s chef, barber and portraitist. The second section is told by three women: the chef’s daughter, the barber’s late brother’s fiancée and the portraitist’s wife. The third section operates as a coda, bringing about a second coup. The Commander imprisons the three men in the presidential residence, thinking, at first, of punishing them as subordinates to the old regime. (The portraitist’s wife is also imprisoned, for reasons that are obvious to everyone but the cuckolded portraitist.) However, as the Commander samples the chef’s food and the barber’s skills, he softens his stance toward them. As for the portraitist, he proves too pathetic to punish. Meanwhile, the barber and the Commander’s wife commence a dangerous affair, and the chef tries to figure out how to use it to his advantage. Dovey’s prose gives the events an air of magic and allows this small, fable-like story to plainly illustrate the old axiom about power’s ability to corrupt. (Mar.)
版权销售情况:
South Africa: Penguin SA
US: Viking Penguin
Italian: Mondadori
Dutch: Ambo/Anthos
German: Luchterhand
Swedish: Forum
French: Editions d’Ormesson
Polish: Amber
Portuguese: Civilizacao
sold rights in Italy, The Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, France, Sweden, Hungary, Poland, Greece and Korea.
Ceridwen Dovey’s BLOOD KIN has been short-listed (one of five titles) for the prestigious 2008 Sunday Times Fiction Prize.
About the Author/作者介绍： CERIDWEN DOVEY is a writer, film maker and anthropologist. She was born and raised in South Africa, and attended high school in Australia and university in America at Harvard. She is currently completing her PhD at New York University. She is 26 years old.
CERIDWEN DOVEY生於南非，在澳洲完成中學學業，在美國哈佛取得大學學位，目前剛完紐約大學的碩士學位。除了作家的身份外，也從事電影製作及人類學研究等工作。
Format:
Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE
Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE
Sales in other countries/其他国家销售情况：
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