THE PUZZLE KING: A NOVEL

Book ID/图书代码： 14560008B30341

English Summary/英文概要： On a gray morning in 1936, Flora Phelps stands in line at the American consulate in Stuttgart, Germany. She carries a gift for the consul, whom she will bribe in order to help her family get out of Hitler’s Germany. This is the story of unlikely heroes, the lively, beautiful Flora and her husband, the brooding, studious Simon, two Jewish immigrants who were each sent to America by their families to find better lives. An improbable match, they meet in New York City and fall in love. Simon—inventor of the jigsaw puzzle—eventually makes his fortune. Now wealthy, but still outsiders, Flora and Simon become obsessed with rescuing the loved ones they left behind in Europe whose fates are determined by growing anti-Semitism on both sides of the Atlantic.

Inspired by her family’s legends, Betsy Carter weaves a memorable tale. In the tradition of Suite Française or Amy Bloom’s Away, she explores a fascinating moment in history and creates a cast of characters who endure with dignity, grace, and hope for the future.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 1936年的一个灰蒙蒙的早上，弗洛拉•菲尔普斯站在德国斯图加特的美国领事馆前的队伍中，她带着准备送给美国领事的礼物，以请求他可以帮助自己以及家人逃离希特勒的控制。这是一个讲述活泼美丽的弗洛拉和她的丈夫，勤奋的西蒙，两位犹太移民在美国为生活奋斗的故事。他们在纽约相遇并相恋，西蒙发明了智力拼图，而这一成果也给他带来了巨大财富。但尽管如此，身在异乡，他们却仍旧处于局外人的行列。于是弗洛拉和西蒙开始努力把他们还留在欧洲的家人接过来。以自己的家庭故事作为蓝本，贝琪•卡特创作了这个值得纪念的故事，她探究了历史上的动人时刻，创造了一系列坚韧，优雅而又充满希望的角色。(zh)

Awards/获奖情况：Carter (Swim to Me) mines her family history in this underwhelming novel that examines the lives and loves of Jewish immigrants in early 20th-century New York. Nine-year-old Simon Phelps is sent by his mother from Lithuania to America, where he grows up poor but ambitious on the Lower East Side. He meets German-born Flora Grossman, and their marriage and ascent into American success forms the linchpin for the familiar tales of immigrants vacillating between the New World and the Old. The interwoven stories of Flora and her sisters—Seema, the kept mistress of a WASP banker, and the somber Margot, who endures an austere life in post-WWI Germany—highlight the different paths for German-Jewish women. Meanwhile, Simon’s booming career in the advertising world is tempered by the grief he feels as he searches for his lost family, though his success enables him to plan a bold mission of salvation. Unfortunately, the narrative, while admirable in scope, feels too beholden to its source material, with the remote, speculative tone making this often feel more like a historian’s work than a novelist’s. (Aug.) ---From Publishers Weekly

About the Author/作者介绍： Betsy Carter is the author of Swim to Me and The Orange Blossom Special. Her memoir, Nothing to Fall Back On, was a national bestseller. She is a contributing editor for O: The Oprah Magazine and writes for Good Housekeeping, New York, and AARP, among others. Carter formerly served as an editor at Esquire, Newsweek, and Harper’s Bazaar, and was the founding editor of New York Woman. She lives in New York City.
贝琪•卡特（Betsy Carter），是Swim to Me和The Orange Blossom Special的作者，她的Nothing to Fall Back On是国家畅销书，此外，她还是《欧普拉杂志》的编辑，并长期为《好管家》，《纽约》供稿，并曾是《时尚先生》，《新闻周刊》，《时尚芭莎》的编辑，还是《纽约女性》的创建者和编辑。她现今住在纽约。

Format:HARDCOVER

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Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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