★2012年柑橘獎的初選小說！

這是一部迷人卻教人心碎的故事。小說從失去一個新生兒的悲傷到喚回一家人失序的情感，其敘述文風與金‧愛德華茲的全球暢銷小說《不存在女兒》一樣，真誠又憂傷。

傷痛讓一個家庭抽泣，也讓孩子和父母緊緊依偎。

生命中的傷痛無所不在，我們的希望卻在傷痛中孕育生長。

故事從失去一個孩子的痛苦劃開序幕。萊利一家四口滿懷欣喜迎接第三個孩子誕生時，小嬰兒卻在出生後57小時不幸去世，頓時將這家人推進烏雲密佈的悲傷。當約翰和瑞琪這對父母試圖掩飾失去骨肉的陰影、抹掉眼淚準備好好過日子時，13歲保羅和10歲比斯庫特這兩個孩子卻仍淚眼婆裟，不懂得如何掙脫失去痛苦。

隨著兩個孩子不斷地用蹺課等反常行動來抒發失去小弟弟的情緒，勾勒出兩個心智尚未發育齊全的稚齡兒子對於未來不確定性的恐懼，也讓一直沒有走出喪子陰影的父母必須敞開心扉面對死亡，重新修補彼此受傷的生命之痛。

小說描述一個家庭的掙扎痛苦及一齣悲劇引發的救贖，是曾獲四次「《紐約時報》年度最受關注作品」的作家Leah Hager Cohen精心編織最感動人心、最受注目的新作。

 

Leah Hager Cohen 出生於曼哈頓，是一位深受評論喜愛的作家。她的作品曾四度評為「《紐約時報》年度最受關注作品」，以及入選「圖書館協會年度十佳圖書」和入圍「《多倫多環球郵報》年度十大圖書」，深獲獎項評審、書評與一般讀者的喜愛。她已著有《Train So Sorry》、《Glass, Paper, Beans》、《Without Apology》、《The Stuff of Dreams》等非文學，以及《Heat Lighting》、《Heart, You Bully, You Punk》和《House Lights》等三部小說。她目前與三個孩子住在波士頓。

 

“How does a family transcend its own pain? How do the secrets we keep shape our lives and the lives of those we love? In this gracefully written, elegantly structured novel, Leah Hager Cohen has created an indelible cast of characters whose story is at once wrenching and redemptive. This is a beautiful book.”—Dani Shapiro, author of Family History

“The Grief of Others is a gorgeous, absorbing, intricately told tale of one family on the brink of collapse, as well as an intimate exploration of art and its place in our lives. Leah Hager Cohen expertly juggles six characters and all their needs, yearning, wounds, and secrets with tremendous skill and—even more importantly—deep and tender compassion. She is a masterful writer on every level.”—Lily King, author of Father of the Rain

“The Grief of Others is delicate, haunting, and lovely, and very difficult to leave on the shelf.”—Susanna Daniel, author of Stiltsville

“A wise and compassionate novel that looks frankly at the ways members of a family can wound and betray each other, even when trying to do just the opposite. Readers will be tempted to vilify Ricky, but she's much too complex for that. Despite the lies, subterfuges and silences these characters inflict on each other, there are no villains here, just a family trying to carry on.”—Suzanne Berne, author of The Ghost at the Table

“At once compact and sweeping. Cohen never strikes a false note in
relating the complicated emotions of her characters. She has created a world both universal and particular. She illuminates all the ways it is glorious to be burdened with full-fledged humanity in the vast universe.” – Robb Forman Dew, author of The Evidence Against Her