UNEXPECTED LESSONS IN LOVE

Book ID/图书代码： 06140512B57004

English Summary/英文概要： With the wit of Marina Lewycka, the piercing observation of Jane Gardam, and the bittersweet charm of Mary Wesley, this will appeal to all who loved Major Pettigrew’s Last Stand or The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. Cecilia Banks has a great deal on her plate. But when her son Ian turns up on her doostep with the unexpected consequence of a brief fling, she feels she has no choice but to take the baby into her life. Cephas’s arrival is the latest of many challenges Cecilia has to face. There is the matter of her cancer, for a start, an illness shared with her novelist friend Helen. Then there is Helen herself, whose observations of Cecilia’s family life reveal a somewhat ambivalent attitude to motherhood. Meanwhile Tim, Cecilia’s husband, is taking self-effacement to extremes, and Ian, unless he gets on with it, will throw away his best chance at happiness. Cecilia, however, does not have to manage alone. In a convent in Hastings sits Sister Diana Clegg who holds the ties that bind everyone not only to each other, but to strangers as yet unmet. As events unfold, and as the truth about Cephas is revealed, we are invited to look closely at madness, guilt, mortal dread and the gift of resilience. No one will remain unchanged.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 風趣諷刺又溫柔
充滿智慧描繪「母親」角色中苦樂參半的人生

5歲的Cecilia Banks與癌症抗戰多年，深受化療以及病痛折磨，為此她被迫從奉獻多年的心理師工作退休，人生的轉折和疾病讓她身心交瘁。

卻在此時兒子Ian搞出讓女孩子未婚懷孕，受心理疾患折磨的女孩將寶寶交給Ian照顧便消失無蹤的事件。無計可施的Ian只好托Cecilia照顧寶寶…背負著自己和新生兒的兩條生命，Cecilia的生命重擔越加沉重。幸好有同病相憐的病友 - 小說家Helen的陪伴與分享才得以撐住，但Helen同樣也面臨是否承擔「母親」角色的掙扎…。

作者Bernardine Bishop改編自自己抗癌的心路歷程，細膩寫出女性溫柔特質與母性的探討。海倫．西蒙森《裴少校的最後一戰》，瑪麗．安．薛芙《親愛的茱麗葉》的書迷將為此書傾倒。
(Eva)

Awards/获奖情况：Shortlisted for the Costa Novel of the Year Award 2013

’This is one of the most enjoyable books I’ve read in years. I found it completely gripping. The carefully but unobtrusively structured plot (involving adoption, DNA and paternity) is domestic but with a wide reach; it is played out against a backdrop of world events. On reflection, I have never before read a book which confronts a serious and almost unmentionable illness with such lightness of touch. It’s happy and it’s cheering, with a beautiful warmth to it, achieved without a moment of sentimentality. I loved it’ -- Margaret Drabble

“A remarkable, immensely readable and warm-hearted book” - Sunday Express

“A refreshingly candid, unexpectedly witty and ultimately moving tale’” - Candis

“A charming, playful novel” – Red

“Bishop treats a fearful subject with an extraordinary lightness of touch; her humour and her emotional wisdom make this a delightful and humane novel” - The Times

“This novel, wise, sharp and startlingly frank, distils a lifetime of reflection on the rules of attraction, affection - and family life. From confused youth to the ordeals and confusions of old age, her wry insights delight’ - Independent

“A wonderful novel, one of those rare books which leaves the reader with a deeper understanding of the human heart . . . This is an author of exceptional intelligence, subtlety and warmth. Expect to hear the name Bernardine Bishop when the lists for the Costa and Man Booker prizes are compiled later this year” - Spectator

“This novel should appeal to Joanna Trollope fans . . . Bishop is a fine, intelligent writer, capable of handling moral and philosophical themes with a light touch” - Sunday Telegraph

“This is a vibrant and even welcoming novel . . . it offers such a rich range of pleasures” - Observer

“This is the sort of story which grabs you, pulls you in and won’t let you go - but in a very gentle way. The characters are superb. It’s wise and it’s witty. It’s sublimely well-written, not with flowery literary devices but in the sort of prose that leaves you surprised when you realise that you’ve read a hundred pages and you’ve no intention of giving up just yet. On a cold winter’s day I was left with a warm glow when I finished reading” – Bookbag

About the Author/作者介绍： Bernardine Bishop是知名英國女詩人Alice Meynell的曾孫女，也是1960年發生提升英國出版自由的企鵝圖書《查爾泰夫人的情人》一書審判案，現存的唯二目擊者之一。在寫過兩本小說後，她轉向擔任心理諮商師。但在2010年時她被診斷出罹患癌症，雖然被迫退休，也因此重拾她最初的喜好 – 寫小說。目前與家人住在英國倫敦。

The great-granddaughter of the poet Alice Meynell, Bernardine Bishop is one of only two surviving witnesses from the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960. After writing two early novels, she went on to have a distinguished career as a psychotherapist during which she brought up her two sons. Cancer forced her retirement in 2010 and she returned to her first love, fiction. Bernardine Bishop lives in London with her husband.

Format:HARDCOVER

Rights Status/版权销售情况：Simplified Chinese/简体中文：AVAILABLE

Complex/Traditional Chinese/繁体中文：AVAILABLE

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