Evening in Paradise: More Stories

　　傳奇女作家露西亞柏林(Lucia Berlin)，多篇短篇小說曾被整理成《清潔女工手記》，出版以來廣受好評，各大書評網媒齊力推薦。如今再次嚴選精采故事，甚至僅有一頁的短篇，小而精美的故事依然令人怦然心動，讓我們得以一窺大師功力。

　　從貧窮底層的勞工到愛情浪漫故事，南非沒落的豪門。故事發生地遍及智利、墨西哥與美國西南部，多樣的人物樣貌，交織成心動的故事情節，探索人性的內涵。〈天堂的夜晚〉(Evening in Paradise)，發生在墨西哥一家老舊的飯店，知名電影鬣蜥之夜(The night of the Iguana)的劇組在此留宿，美國知名演員與當地飯店主人，正在煩惱整修與飯店的未來；〈阿布奎基的街道〉(Lead Street,Albuquerque)，講兩對年輕的夫妻，一對夫妻的朋友居然娶了位十七歲的少女，這位朋友後來發跡，成為知名藝術家，卻拋棄他們與女兒的保姆偷情；〈安達多〉(Andado)是篇幅最長的一篇短篇，歌德式的愛情，十四歲的智利學生蘿拉(Laura)，愛上一個喪偶的莊園主唐德烈(Don Andres)。老男人與少女的情慾，湧然而生，最終是否會淹沒少女的天真？

　　故事的多樣性，帶著憧憬與想像，點亮人性最後一抹光輝，二十二篇小說，不負作家盛名，將繼《清潔女工手記》，再次掀起討論，也是重溫已故作家露西亞的好機會。(文/博客來編譯)

"Berlin probably deserved a Pulitzer Prize." --Dwight Garner, The New York Times

NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS'' CHOICE. Named one of the Best Books of 2018 by The Boston Globe, Kirkus, and Lit Hub. Named a Fall Read by Buzzfeed, ELLE, TIME, Nylon, The Boston Globe, Vulture, Newsday, HuffPost, Bustle, The A.V. Club, The Millions, BUST, Reinfery29, Fast Company and MyDomaine.

A collection of previously uncompiled stories from the short-story master and literary sensation Lucia Berlin

In 2015, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published A Manual for Cleaning Women, a posthumous story collection by a relatively unknown writer, to wild, widespread acclaim. It was a New York Times bestseller; the paper''s Book Review named it one of the Ten Best Books of 2015; and NPR, Time, Entertainment Weekly, The Guardian, The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune, and other outlets gave the book rave reviews.

The book''s author, Lucia Berlin, earned comparisons to Raymond Carver, Grace Paley, Alice Munro, and Anton Chekhov. Evening in Paradise is a careful selection from Berlin''s remaining stories--twenty-two gems that showcase the gritty glamour that made readers fall in love with her. From Texas to Chile, Mexico to New York City, Berlin finds beauty in the darkest places and darkness in the seemingly pristine. Evening in Paradise is an essential piece of Berlin''s oeuvre, a jewel-box follow-up for new and old fans.

About the Author

Lucia Berlin

　　Lucia Berlin (1936–2004) worked brilliantly but sporadically throughout the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. Her stories are inspired by her early childhood in various Western mining towns; her glamorous teenage years in Santiago, Chile; three failed marriages; a lifelong problem with alcoholism; her years spent in Berkeley, New Mexico, and Mexico City; and the various jobs she held to support her writing and her four sons. Sober and writing steadily by the 1990s, she took a visiting writer's post at the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1994 and was soon promoted to associate professor. In 2001, in failing health, she moved to Southern California to be near her sons. She died in 2004 in Marina del Rey.

　　Lucia's books include A Manual for Cleaning Women, Welcome Home, and Evening in Paradise.