Red Clocks

　　當授予所有胚胎生命、自由與財產權的人格修正案通過，墮胎和體外受精在美國再次被宣告為違法行為，五個女人的人生因而交會。



　　單身高中老師Ro，正著手撰寫19世紀一個默默無名的極地女探險家Eivør Minervudottir的傳記，同時，她渴望在單親生育被禁止前，生下一個自己的孩子；Susan是Ro同事的妻子，擁有兩個孩子，被困在搖搖欲墜的婚姻中，身心俱疲；Mattie是Ro最優秀的學生之一，她的好友因為意圖在家私自墮胎而被關進少年監獄，而她現在發現自己也懷孕了，絕望的她感覺自己無處可逃；Gin則是一名自然療法治療師，私下提供墮胎服務，直到她因為醫療失當行為被逮捕，而庭審過程如同一場現代版的女巫審判。這些女人展開了一連串對父權建構的體制的大膽挑戰，她們的命運在此匯集──並與Eivør的人生互為映照。



　　本書情節引人入勝，懸疑感緊緊牽引著讀者，猶如Naomi Alderman的《The Power》的氣勢結合《使女的故事》一針見血的預言，Zumas在這部來勢洶洶的新作中，呈現了當代社會中，被婚姻、事業、母親等角色形塑、改變的女性面貌，並令人戰慄地揭示了在不久之後的未來，社會可能面臨的艱難課題。(文/博客來編譯)

In this ferociously imaginative novel, abortion is once again illegal in America, in-vitro fertilization is banned, and the Personhood Amendment grants rights of life, liberty, and property to every embryo.

Five women. One question. What is a woman for?

In a small Oregon fishing town, five very different women navigate these new barriers alongside age-old questions surrounding motherhood, identity, and freedom. Ro, a single high-school teacher, is trying to have a baby on her own, while also writing a biography of Eivv?r, a little-known 19th-century female polar explorer.

Susan is a frustrated mother of two, trapped in a crumbling marriage. Mattie is the adopted daughter of doting parents and one of Ro’s best students, who finds herself pregnant with nowhere to turn. And Gin is the gifted, forest-dwelling herbalist, or ＂mender,＂ who brings all their fates together when she’s arrested and put on trial in a frenzied modern-day witch hunt.

Red Clocks is at once a riveting drama, whose mysteries unfold with magnetic energy, and a shattering novel of ideas. In the vein of Margaret Atwood and Eileen Myles, Leni Zumas fearlessly explores the contours of female experience, evoking The Handmaid’s Tale for a new millennium. This is a story of resilience, transformation, and hope in tumultuous -- even frightening -- times.

Leni Zumas is the author of the story collection Farewell Navigator and the novel The Listeners, which was a finalist for the Oregon Book Award. She is an associate professor in the MFA Program in Creative Writing at Portland State University.