親愛的茱麗葉

by Mary Ann Shaffer

英國女作家茱麗葉收到一封來自遙遠根西島的陌生人來信，他在一本二手書發現了她的名字和地址，由於很想再讀作者的其他作品，因此寫信與她聯繫，還提及島上成立「根西馬鈴薯皮派文學讀書會」的由來。茱麗葉對島上的一切感到很好奇，於是雙方開始通信，也與讀書會的其他成員魚雁往返，他們談閱讀對人生的影響，談逆境中堅強活下去的力量，也談生活中的甘甜苦澀。 隨著和島民的情誼日漸深厚，茱麗葉決定親自前往根西島一遊，一開始是為了收集下一本新書的題材，沒想到她的生命因此有了意想不到的轉折…… 值得一提的是，這本小說採用書信體寫成，一封封情意真摯的信件在英國倫敦、蘇格蘭、海峽中的根西島、法國之間往返傳情，讀者就像展讀塵封在櫃子底部的一封封信件，逐漸串聯起令人歡笑又落淚的故事全貌。此書再次肯定閱讀的不朽和人性的不平凡，令人不禁憶起《查令十字路84號》的越洋情誼。這是一個關於書、關於愛情與友情的抉擇、關於歷史與記憶的美好故事。

328 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2009

About the author

Mary Ann Shaffer worked as an editor, a librarian, and in bookshops. Her life-long dream was to someday write her own book and publish it. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society was her first novel. Unfortunately, she became very ill with cancer and so she asked her niece, Annie Barrows, the author of the children’s series Ivy and Bean, as well as The Magic Half, to help her finish the book. Mary Ann Shaffer died in February 2008, a few months before her first novel was published.