Halsey Street

　　「歸屬」，應該是什麼模樣？

　　

　　離家5年後， Penelope Grand放棄了她在匹茲堡失敗的藝術家事業，回到布魯克林，搬進離老家幾條街遠的一個租屋處，就近照顧她生病的父親Ralph。她接受了自己的未來已經不可能會是她夢想中的樣子，然而她沒有想到的是，在她離家的這段時間，都市發展的仕紳化完全重塑了這個街區，她以前常去的地方被夷為平地，她認識的臉孔被有錢的陌生白人取代。她的房東，年輕、有錢的Harpers一家，樂於擁抱這樣的轉變，他們被充滿「歷史痕跡」的房屋和較低的消費水平所吸引，而Harpers迷人的黃色房子──以及那一家迷人的男主人──確實提供了Penelope一個避風港。



　　然而當Penelope收到多年前拋棄家庭的母親Mirella寄來的明信片，她的世界再次被攪亂。如今身在多明尼加的Mirella希望她們能夠和解，Penelope因而被迫面對她寧可遺忘的過去。舊的瘡疤再次被揭起，秘密一一浮現，一場關於犧牲和自我發現的旅程於是展開。



　　整部小說在兩個女人的視角間轉換，穿梭於過去和現在之間，逐漸呈現出這一家人生活的全貌：Mirella和Ralph相愛的過程、他們在布魯克林的新婚時期、Ralph經營的唱片行、Penelope在羅德島設計學院的生活、她童年時和Mirella前往多明尼加的旅行……以及此刻，她們最後一次和解的機會。



　　Naima Coster這部關於家庭、失去和重建的現代故事，抓住了人們心中對歸屬的渴望──不僅僅是一個居所，而是與他人的連結。（文/博客來編譯）

Finalist for the Kirkus Prize for Fiction.

A modern-day story of family, loss, and renewal, Halsey Street captures the deeply human need to belong--not only to a place but to one another.

Penelope Grand has scrapped her failed career as an artist in Pittsburgh and moved back to Brooklyn to keep an eye on her ailing father. She's accepted that her future won't be what she'd dreamed, but now, as gentrification has completely reshaped her old neighborhood, even her past is unrecognizable. Old haunts have been razed, and wealthy white strangers have replaced every familiar face in Bed-Stuy. Even her mother, Mirella, has abandoned the family to reclaim her roots in the Dominican Republic. That took courage. It's also unforgivable.

When Penelope moves into the attic apartment of the affluent Harpers, she thinks she's found a semblance of family--and maybe even love. But her world is upended again when she receives a postcard from Mirella asking for reconciliation. As old wounds are reopened, and secrets revealed, a journey across an ocean of sacrifice and self-discovery begins.

An engrossing debut, Halsey Street shifts between the perspectives of these two captivating, troubled women. Mirella has one last chance to win back the heart of the daughter she'd lost long before leaving New York, and for Penelope, it's time to break free of the hold of the past and start navigating her own life.