THE SISTERS FROM HARDSCRABBLE BAY
Book ID/图书代码： 02330010B38955
English Summary/英文概要： A tale of two sisters over seventy years that recovers the vibrant and unforgettable voice of Beverly Jensen
In 1916, Idella and Avis Hillock live on the edge of a chilly bluff in New Brunswick-a hardscrabble world of potato farms and lobster traps, rough men, hard work, and baffling beauty. From "Gone," the heartbreaking story of their mother’s medical crisis in childbirth, to the darkly comic "Wake," which follows the grown siblings’ catastrophic efforts to escort their father, "Wild Bill" Hillock’s body to his funeral, the stories of Idella and Avis offer a compelling and wry vision of two remarkable women. The vivid cast includes Idella’s philandering husband Edward, her bewilderingly difficult mother-in-law- and Avis, whose serial romantic disasters never quell her irrepressible spirit. Jensen’s work evokes a time gone by and reads like an instant American classic.
Beverly Jensen died of cancer at the age of forty-nine without publishing her work. Since her death, her fiction has been championed by a dedicated group of supporters, including Stephen King and Joyce Carol Oates.
Chinese Summary/中文概要： 1961年，生活在New Brunswick加拿大新伯倫瑞克省New Brunswick的貧瘠之地的姊妹Idella及Avis Hillock。兩人在這毫無生氣的地方出生，只有一望無際的馬鈴薯田及補蝦籠，粗魯的男性及粗重的勞力活，所謂女性的嬌美對他們而言有如天方夜譚。從小母親因難產早逝，不幸的命運生下來的唯一的選項，儘管兩姊妹相當親近，但兩人的個性還是決然不同，Idella嚮往愛情及家庭，Avis而是希望人生不要太拘謹，只要能飲酒就能生活…最後兩人雖各自走上人生的不同方向，但似乎更多無法割捨的情感依然牽扯其中。故事描述七十年的光陰中，我們將看到兩人不同生命足跡的真實寫照！(Vincent)
Awards/获奖情况：Stephen King史蒂芬‧金及 Joyce Carol Oates喬伊斯‧卡洛‧奧茲 讚譽推薦！ ¨ If you ever loved THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER《不存在的女兒》or THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES 《蜂蜜罐上的聖瑪利》, you have been waiting for this book and just didn’t know it. Idella and Avis, the sisters from Hardscrabble Bay, stole my heart. They’ll steal yours, as well. Read this book. And buy a copy for your best friend, because you’ll want to keep yours."---Stephen King (「如果妳喜歡《不存在的女兒》或《蜂蜜罐上的聖瑪利》，那麼這將是妳的下一本書…」)
Reviews:
¨ “In the end, THE SISTERS OF HARDSCRABBLE BAY is a greater treasure by far than any I could hope to find buried on a mountain. It is an artistic exploration of the capacity of even the most embattled of families to maintain its identity. ‘I’m stuck being a Hillock,’ Idella’s drunken brother says bluntly in “Wake.” That each and every Hillock and Jensen in this collection should touch us so deeply is a tribute to Beverly Jensen, a writer of great humor, great compassion, and great knowledge of the human heart.”---Howard Frank Mosher
¨ “An original voice, sharp witted and big hearted, as if a rambunctious and deeply troubled family out of William Faulkner’s Mississippi had been tempered instead by the snowy reaches of the North.”---Poets & Writers
¨ “The story of these two sisters, Idella and Avis, travels from Canada to New England, but mostly it travels through their lives and hearts, and it will travel through your heart as well.”---Elizabeth Strout
¨ “Wildly hilarious and profoundly moving, Beverly’s book defines character-driven fiction at its best…I would rate Beverly Jensen’s unforgettable sisters right up there with Ruby and Ada of Cold Mountain.”---Howard Frank Mosher
¨ “A brilliant book about small town life.”---Richard Russo
¨ "Every now and then– maybe two or three times in a decade– a book comes along that’s so good you want to buttonhole strangers on the street, show it to them, and say: "Read this! It will fill you up and make you glad you’re alive!" The late Beverly Jensen’s THE SISTERS FROM HARDSCRABBLE BAY is exactly that kind of book. It roars from hilarity to horror to heartbreak, sometimes in the space of ten or twenty pages, then back again to hilarity. It’s profane, loving, hardnosed, and completely beautiful. If you ever loved THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER or THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES, you have been waiting for this book and just didn’t know it. Idella and Avis, the sisters from Hardscrabble Bay, stole my heart. They’ll steal yours, as well. Read this book. And buy a copy for your best friend, because you’ll want to keep yours." ---Stephen King
¨ × “Straightforward yet lyric prose and an eye for the crucial detail bring the Hillocks’ world vividly to life.”---Kirkus
¨ “Jensen’s strength is in starting in one place, then going to another that readers wouldn’t necessarily expect. And as delicately observed as her plotting is, Jensen’s characters are even better. What’s impressive is just how coolly Jensen is able to detail a large assortment of characters mainly through the viewpoints of the two titular sisters, practical Idella and flighty Avis. All Jensen’s characters are fascinating in their own right, capable of carrying stories on their own.”---Avclub.com
¨ Beverly Jensen’s book may be a collection of stories, but thanks to its chronological sweep (from 1916 to 1987), its multiple settings (from New Brunswick - so vividly rendered that it becomes another character - to Boston to coastal Maine) and a good half-dozen of the richest fictional characters I’ve encountered anywhere, the book delivers the emotional rush of a novel, indeed of a great novel.”---Richard Russo, New York Times Book Review
About the Author/作者介绍： Beverly Jensen，擁有南方衛理公會大學Southern Methodist University戲劇藝術創作的碩士學位。作品"Wake"曾在《新英格蘭書評》的發表，更曾榮獲「手推車獎」(Pushcart Prize)的提名。在2003年因癌症病逝後，留下丈夫及兩個小孩。
Format:电子手稿
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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