Songs Without Words長椅上的天使

Review“Packer's voice [has] extraordinary authority. . . . Compassionate, rich in solace.” —The New York Times Book Review“Engrossing, forgiving and quietly wise. . . . Packer keeps both the pages and her readers' minds turning until the very end." —People“Packer has an unnerving ability to gaze steadily at feelings you can barely acknowledge even to yourself. . . . You are grateful for Packer's insight, refreshed and comforted by the depth of her empathy.” —Newsday“Songs Without Words is an eloquent, on occasion harrowing account of friendship and its limits, the mind and its fatal fragilities, and the saving graces of human nature. Packer captures mental pathologies exceptionally well and writes beautifully about despair and love and how they travel together throughout a lifetime.” —Kay Redfield Jamison, author of An Unquiet Mind Product DescriptionLiz and Sarabeth were girlhood neighbors in the suburbs of Northern California, brought as close as sisters by the suicide of Sarabeth's mother. In the decades that followed, their relationship remained a source of continuity and strength. But when Liz's adolescent daughter enters dangerous waters, the women's friendship takes a devastating turn, forcing Liz and Sarabeth to question their most deeply held beliefs about their connection. From the bestselling author of The Dive from Clausen's Pier, Songs Without Words is the gripping story of a lifelong friendship pushed to the breaking point.

安．佩克Ann Packer
女性內心世界勾勒高手
安．佩克出身寫作世家，雙親及弟弟都是作家，但她一直沒把寫作這件事當作目標或興趣，直到大學時參加了寫作研習營才「大器晚成」。在她的書裡，「缺席」一直是很重要的課題。她的父親是著名的法律學者、法學作家，卻因為盛年時兩度中風而厭世自殺。安．佩克才十三歲就失去了父親，家人也一直避談這件事，直到成年後，她才慢慢以寫作來抒發對「死亡」、「親愛的人自殘」這些主題的思索與關注。
安．佩克曾榮獲「詹姆斯．密契納獎」（James Michener Award）、「國家藝術基金會獎助金」（National Endowment for the Arts fellowship）。作品散見《紐約時報》、《犁頭》等雜誌，也曾編入《一九九二年得獎短篇故事：歐亨利獎》（Prize Stories 1992: The O. Henry Awards）。以《當妳先說再見》一書初試啼聲，迅速竄升成為暢銷作家，譯為十種語言暢銷海外，並榮獲美國「五大湖區圖書獎」（Great Lakes Book Award）及「凱特．蕭邦文學獎」（Kate Chopin Literary Award），建立起「女性內心世界勾勒高手」的名號。目前與家人定居於北加州。另著有短篇小說集《夢得席諾鎮與其他故事》（Mendocino and Other Stories）。

Ann Packer received the Great Lakes Book Award for The Dive from Clausen's Pier, which was a national bestseller. She is also the author of Mendocino and Other Stories. She is a past recipient of a James Michener award and a National Endowment for the Arts fellowship. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, and other magazines, as well as in Prize Stories 1992: The O. Henry Awards. She lives in northern California with her family.