《书中谜》

    The book is many things at once: a mystery*, a coming-of-age novel, and a search into literary obsession*.

    Arriving in New York from Tasmania* with US$300, her mother's ashes and a love of reading, 18-year-old Rosemary Savage finds work in the Arcade Bookshop, a huge, labyrinthine* place that features everything from overstock to rare books.

    The store is very similar* to New York's Strand (where author Sheridan Hay worked), and its interesting members includes autocratic* owner George Pike and his albino* assistant, Walter Geist. Savage is suspicious* and worried when Geist asks her to help deal with an anonymous* request* to sell a hand-written copy of Herman Melville's lost "Isle of the Cross." (The novel in fact existed but disappeared after Melville's publisher rejected it.)

    She tells the secret to her co-worker Oscar, which only speeds up the deal's turning into a disaster*.

    Including actual letters by Melville, the book is a literary adventure* and portrait* of a young woman making a life for herself in the city.

    Hay does a good job writing about Savage's struggles to deal with evil. She also imagines the content of Melville's novel which features a woman abandoned much like Savage's mother. Hay also ably captures Savage's nostalgic* memories of Tasmania.

    The Chinese version of this book is available on dangdang.com. Readers can find the English version on amazon.com.

    mystery 推理小说

    obsession 痴迷、困扰

    Tasmania 塔斯马尼亚岛

    labyrinthine 迷宫似的

    similar 相似的

    autocratic 专制的

    albino 白化病人

    suspicious 怀疑的

    anonymous 匿名的

    request 要求

    disaster 灾难

    adventure 冒险

    portrait 描写

    nostalgic 怀乡的