The Eighth Life

　　「那晚史塔莎立下誓言，用心將食譜牢牢記住，然後將紙本銷毀。當她再次躺回床上，動用所有感知回想那美好的滋味，她確信這道秘密食譜能夠療癒傷痛、阻止悲劇發生，並帶給人們幸福。但她錯了。」

　　西元1900年，沙皇掌權下的俄羅斯帝國，南方的喬治亞地區(今喬治亞共和國)。史塔莎(Stasia)，是知名巧克力廚師的女兒，夢想到巴黎當芭蕾舞者，可她卻嫁給了一位軍人西蒙(Simon)。家傳的巧克力秘方，跟著她的婚姻一路來到北方的聖彼得堡。適逢俄國十月革命爆發，她的人生，該如何面對赤化的俄國？幸運地，她找到一個避難所，但她的姊妹克里斯蒂娜(Christine)卻難逃史達林的爪牙，佳人早逝。不幸接踵而來，席捲整個家族。

　　一百年後，冷戰鐵幕過去了，喬治亞與俄羅斯的戰爭不斷，時不時爆發的內戰，讓多人流離失所。2006年，史塔莎的曾孫女尼薩(Niza)逃難到德國柏林，但她十二歲的姪女柏力卡(Brilka)，卻離家出走。尼薩必須找到她，並且告訴她真相與家族的故事，還有家傳巧克力的秘方。究竟一帖秘方如何影響一個家族六代人的生命？史詩般的劇情，牽動讀者的全身的神經，看這些女人的生命如何在更迭的歷史洪流中燃燒。一部關於帝國輝煌與革命熱血，內戰動亂，壓抑與解放的過程，堪稱二十一世紀的亂世佳人。(文/博客來編譯)

　　Six romances, one revolution, the story of the century.

　　‘That night Stasia took an oath, swearing to learn the recipe by heart and destroy the paper. And when she was lying in her bed again, recalling the taste with all her senses, she was sure that this secret recipe could heal wounds, avert catastrophes, and bring people happiness. But she was wrong.’

　　At the start of the twentieth century, on the edge of the Russian Empire, a family prospers. It owes its success to a delicious chocolate recipe, passed down the generations with great solemnity and caution. A caution which is justified: this is a recipe for ecstasy that carries a very bitter aftertaste …

　　Stasia learns it from her Georgian father and takes it north, following her new husband, Simon, to his posting at the centre of the Russian Revolution in St Petersburg. Stasia’s is only the first in a symphony of grand but all too often doomed romances that swirl from sweet to sour in this epic tale of the red century.

　　Tumbling down the years, and across vast expanses of longing and loss, generation after generation of this compelling family hears echoes and sees reflections. Great characters and greater relationships come and go and come again; the world shakes, and shakes some more, and the reader rejoices to have found at last one of those glorious old books in which you can live and learn, be lost and found, and make indelible new friends.