Fingersmith

　　騙局中的騙局，牽引出詭譎的命運糾葛！



　　本書發生於英國維多利亞時代的倫敦，主角為兩位荳蔻少女——蘇珊．崔妮德和瑪黛．李里，兩人雖然素未謀面，出身階級和成長環境也大相逕庭，命運卻將她們緊緊聯繫在一起，彷彿指間纏繞的絲線……



　　莎拉．華特絲透過描寫維多利亞時代的竊賊文化，編織出結構嚴謹的歷史懸疑小說，她善於刻畫人心幽微複雜的面貌、營造諜對諜的緊繃張力和神祕氛圍，令人不忍釋卷，因而受到了非凡肯定；全書筆調幽暗詭譎、情節峰迴路轉，絕對會帶給讀者一場難忘的閱讀饗宴。



　　*本書中譯本<<荊棘之城>>由小知堂出版

＂Oliver Twist with a twist...Waters spins an absorbing tale that withholds as much as it discloses. A pulsating story.＂--The New York Times Book Review

The Handmaiden, a film adaptation of Fingersmith, directed by Park Chan-wook and starring Kim Tae-Ri, is now available.

Sue Trinder is an orphan, left as an infant in the care of Mrs. Sucksby, a ＂baby farmer,＂ who raised her with unusual tenderness, as if Sue were her own. Mrs. Sucksby’s household, with its fussy babies calmed with doses of gin, also hosts a transient family of petty thieves--fingersmiths--for whom this house in the heart of a mean London slum is home.

One day, the most beloved thief of all arrives--Gentleman, an elegant con man, who carries with him an enticing proposition for Sue: If she wins a position as the maid to Maud Lilly, a naïve gentlewoman, and aids Gentleman in her seduction, then they will all share in Maud’s vast inheritance. Once the inheritance is secured, Maud will be disposed of--passed off as mad, and made to live out the rest of her days in a lunatic asylum.

With dreams of paying back the kindness of her adopted family, Sue agrees to the plan. Once in, however, Sue begins to pity her helpless mark and care for Maud Lilly in unexpected ways...But no one and nothing is as it seems in this Dickensian novel of thrills and reversals.

作者簡介

莎拉．華特絲

　　1966年出生於英國威爾斯，英國當代備受矚目的文壇新星，著有《輕舔絲絨》、《華麗的邪 惡》、《荊棘之城》、《守夜》，本本暢銷。文學博士出身的她，個性鮮明，寫作風格獨特且技巧純熟，作品深具娛樂性和吸引力，擅長捕捉讀者心理，營造懸疑驚 悚的故事氛圍。她曾被《Granta》雜誌推選為「英國最佳青年小說家」之一（2003），以及大英圖書獎的年度作家（2003）。從事寫作以來得獎無 數，首部作品《輕舔絲絨》一推出便躍登暢銷排行榜，由BBC改編成迷你影集，佳評如潮，更被英國《週日泰晤士報》評選為年度青年作家。

　 　莎拉．華特絲前三部作品均以維多利亞時代為背景，被稱為「維多利亞三部曲」，在優雅飄渺的氛圍中帶有神秘懸疑感。《輕舔絲絨》（1998）重現維多利亞 時代的劇場，藉由表演工作者的生命歷程，探索真愛與自我認同，更獲得當年度的貝蒂特拉斯克獎（Betty Trask Award）；《華麗的邪惡》（1999），則以降靈術描繪當時對於未知世界的好奇與恐懼，國外書評認為此書「毛骨悚然、令人著魔、筆調纖細、暗藏伏 筆」；至於《荊棘之城》（2002），則透過描寫竊賊文化，編織出結構嚴謹、充滿張力的懸疑小說而受到非凡肯定。此作使莎拉．華特絲榮獲「年度英語作家 獎」，《娛樂週刊》評選為年度十大好書，並榮獲《紐約時報》「注目書賞」、CWA歷史犯罪類小說匕首獎，更入圍當年柑橘獎、曼布克兩項大獎。

　 　最新作品《守夜》（2006），則突破以往的「維多利亞三部曲」風格，展現更廣闊的文學視野，更高難度的小說表現，獲得高度評價與讀者喜愛，此作亦於當 年同時入圍柑橘獎及曼布克獎，每一出手便是得獎與暢銷的保證，在當代作家中實屬難能可貴，也讓人亦發期待華特絲未來在英國文學史上的崇高地位。

　 　Sarah Waters was born in Wales in 1966 and lives in London. Author of Tipping the Velvet, Affinity, Fingersmith and The Night Watch, her most recent book is The Little Stranger. All of her books have attracted prizes: she won a Betty Trask Award, the Somerset Maugham Award and was twice shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize. Fingersmith and The Night Watch were both shortlisted for the Man Booker and Orange prizes, and Fingersmith won the CWA Ellis Peters Dagger Award for Historical Crime Fiction and the South Bank Show Award for Literature. Tipping the Velvet, Affinity and Fingersmith have all been adapted for television.

　　The Little Stranger was a bestselling hardback and was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize.