These Silent Woods

　　在這座山上，沒有電，沒有其他家人，沒有來自外界的任何聯繫
　　為了保護孩子，他選擇的隱居生活，卻即將面臨威脅…
 
　　八年來，Cooper和女兒Finch一直獨居在北美阿帕拉契山脈某座森林的小木屋裡，幾乎不與外界接觸。這也正是Cooper所求的生活，畢竟他有太多的過去需要隱藏。從小到大陪伴Finch的，只有書架上滿堆滿谷的書籍，還有大自然既美麗卻也殘酷的野生規則。隨著年紀增長，Finch開始抵抗Cooper為自己規劃的生活，然而Cooper仍活在痛苦的回憶中，也就是迫使父女倆逃到深山的事件。
 
　　這世界上唯二知道這對父女下落的，只有同樣居住在這座深山裡的隱士Scotland，以及小木屋真正的主人，同時也是Cooper摯友兼舊時戰友的Jake。每年冬天，Jake都會拜訪小木屋，同時幫忙補充物資、糧食，然而今年Jake卻未如期現身，接著一連串不可逆轉的危機就此展開，威脅著Cooper和Finch原本寧靜的生活。安全的天堂界線開始模糊，當年帶走Cooper妻子生命的意外，背後所隱藏的危險原來從未離去，Cooper被迫要決定究竟該繼續隱瞞過去，還是面對過去的罪惡⋯⋯

　　(文／博客來外文館)

　　A father and daughter living in the remote Appalachian mountains must reckon with the ghosts of their past in Kimi Cunningham Grant's These Silent Woods, a mesmerizing novel of suspense.

　　No electricity, no family, no connection to the outside world.

　　For eight years, Cooper and his young daughter, Finch, have lived in isolation in a remote cabin in the northern Appalachian woods. And that's exactly the way Cooper wants it, because he's got a lot to hide. Finch has been raised on the books filling the cabin’s shelves and the beautiful but brutal code of life in the wilderness. But she’s starting to push back against the sheltered life Cooper has created for her—and he’s still haunted by the painful truth of what it took to get them there.

　　The only people who know they exist are a mysterious local hermit named Scotland, and Cooper's old friend, Jake, who visits each winter to bring them food and supplies. But this year, Jake doesn't show up, setting off an irreversible chain of events that reveals just how precarious their situation really is. Suddenly, the boundaries of their safe haven have blurred—and when a stranger wanders into their woods, Finch’s growing obsession with her could put them all in danger. After a shocking disappearance threatens to upend the only life Finch has ever known, Cooper is forced to decide whether to keep hiding—or finally face the sins of his past.

　　Vividly atmospheric and masterfully tense, These Silent Woods is a poignant story of survival, sacrifice, and how far a father will go when faced with losing it all.

KIMI CUNNINGHAM GRANT is the author of Fallen Mountains, Silver Like Dust, and These Silent Woods. Kimi is a two-time winner of a Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Memorial Prize in Poetry and a recipient of a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts fellowship in creative nonfiction. Her poems and essays have appeared in Fathom, Literary Mama, RATTLE, Poet Lore, and Whitefish Review. She studied English at Bucknell University and Messiah College. She lives, writes, and teaches in Pennsylvania.