Gathering Blue

　　在粗暴貧窮、唾棄傷殘、鄙視弱小的社會裡，綺拉有一條腿天生殘疾，父親在打獵的過程中遭怪獸攻擊致死，現在母親又因病過世，她僅餘的小小家園，受到村中婦人凡德拉的覬覦，想拿它蓄養家畜和幼兒，因此告上長老會，請求依慣例，將身障又無依的她送往墳場自生自滅。綺拉謹記母親的教誨：殘缺使你堅強。因此決定為自己的生命奮戰。杰米森長老被指派為她的辯護人，他反駁凡德拉的數項指控，並因綺拉具有刺繡的天賦而將她留在司法大廈裡，擔任繼她母親之後的禮服刺繡人。

　　這個村子的歷史以彩線精緻的繡在禮服上，一年一度的年度集會上，傳唱人會手執雕刻精美的權杖，身著禮服，上臺為全村人唱誦歷史。

　　綺拉主要任務就是專心修補上古傳承下來的歷史禮服，以及填補禮服背面和肩膀上空白的未來；木刻家湯瑪主要工作則是修整及雕刻歷史權杖。他們同住在司法大廈裡，享有村人所沒有的優渥生活條件。大廈裡還有一名歌喉清亮的三四歲小女孩小喬，被指定為日後傳唱人。而，他們三人都是孤兒。

　　綺拉與年邁染色人安娜貝拉學染色，每次行經森林到染色人的小屋時，她都會聽到傳說中的怪獸聲，讓她非常不安。安娜貝拉篤定的告訴她，世界上沒有怪獸，那些聲音是有人做出來嚇唬人的。既然如此，那麼村裡的傳言、長老的證實及綺拉父親又怎麼被怪獸帶走呢？綺拉滿心疑惑，決定要問個清楚。沒想到安娜貝拉在做出這個驚人的結論後，竟莫名暴斃。

　　還好綺拉已經學會了各種顏色的染製，這個村子裡的植物可以染出各種美麗的顏色，唯獨做不出藍色染料，因為這裡沒有菘藍。髒兮兮又充滿活力的小麥是綺拉在村裡唯一的朋友，小麥常到大廈找綺拉和湯瑪要東西吃，為了回贈綺拉禮物，他出走到遠方──一個住著許許多多殘缺人卻又充滿和諧氣氛的村落──找到菘藍，並帶回綺拉眼睛失明的父親。

　　一樁可怕陰謀的真相漸漸暴露出來，長老會是怎麼樣的結構？怪獸是什麼？為什麼天賦異稟的孩子都成孤兒？為什麼傳唱人一年只在眾人面前出現一次？綺拉經歷了一連串的神祕遭遇後，會與父親前往另一個殘缺又美好的村落？或留下來，以她的天賦刺繡真實的未來呢……

　　綺拉生來一腳殘障，在物競天擇的村落裡，弱勢與殘缺者自當被逐。長老會議傳喚她去接受判決時，她立誓要為自己的生命奮戰。萬萬沒想到，長老們對她的前途已另有盤算。與生俱來近乎神奇的刺繡天賦保全了她的性命，讓她擔負起歷史傳承的重大任務，並經歷了一連串的神祕遭遇。在追求真理的道路上，綺拉承接了一項改變村落歷史也改變自己未來的使命。

　　《歷史刺繡人》（Gathering Blue）深刻的檢視了未來可能出現的社會，激發讀者反觀我們身處的環境，重新省思我們習以為常的價值觀與創造力。繼《記憶傳承人》（The Giver）之後，露薏絲．勞瑞（Lois Lowry）再度帶領讀者經歷一段發人深省的旅程，讀完最後一頁，闔上書本，才是思索的起點。　

　　——中文書介摘錄自《歷史刺繡人》，台灣東方出版

The second book in Lois Lowry’s Giver Quartet, which began with the bestselling and Newbery Medal-winning The Giver.

Left orphaned and physically flawed in a civilization that shuns and discards the weak, Kira faces a frighteningly uncertain future.

Her neighbors are hostile, and no one but a small boy offers to help. When she is summoned to judgment by The Council of Guardians, Kira prepares to fight for her life.

But the Council, to her surprise, has plans for her. Blessed with an almost magical talent that keeps her alive, the young girl faces new responsibilities and a set of mysteries deep within the only world she has ever known. On her quest for truth, Kira discovers things that will change her life and world forever.

A compelling examination of a future society, Gathering Blue challenges readers to think about community, creativity, and the values that they have learned to accept. Once again Lois Lowry brings readers on a provocative journey that inspires contemplation long after the last page is turned.

＂This extraordinary novel is remarkable for its fully realized characters, gripping plot, and Lowry’s singular vision of a future.＂ --VOYA

The Giver has become one of the most influential novels of our time. Don’t miss the powerful companion novels in Lois Lowry’s Giver Quartet: Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Son.

作者簡介

露薏絲‧勞瑞

　　於一九七七年以第一部得獎小說《A Summer to Die》擄獲了青少年讀者的心。後來她又創作出廣受歡迎的《阿納塔斯西亞‧克魯布尼克》(Anastasia Krupnik)。她是美國紐伯瑞兒童文學獎的得主，一九九○年以《數星星》(Number the Stars)一書獲獎，一九九四年再度以《記憶傳承人》(The Giver)摘下紐伯瑞金牌獎。

　　Lois Lowry is the author of more than thirty books for young adults, including the popular Anastasia Krupnik series. She has received countless honors, among them the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award, the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, the California Young Reader's Medal, and the Mark Twain Award. She received Newbery Medals for two of her novels, NUMBER THE STARS and THE GIVER. Her first novel, A SUMMER TO DIE, was awarded the International Reading Association's Children's Book Award. Ms. Lowry now divides her time between Cambridge and an 1840s farmhouse in Maine. To learn more about Lois Lowry, see her website at www.loislowry.com or follow her on Twitter @LiosLowryWriter.