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The Three Weissmanns of Westport
西港母女情
作 者：凱薩琳•席尼
(Cathleen Schine)
版 本：精裝, 304 頁,
2010年 2 月,美國出版社Farrar,
Straus and Giroux出版
被譽為「當代猶太裔之珍•奧斯汀」，得獎無數的暢銷女性小說家凱薩琳•席尼 (Cathleen Schine)，將受世人喜愛的珍．奧斯汀(Jane Austen)經典小說《理性與感性》(Sense and Sensibility)重新詮釋創作出令人耳目一新的《西港母女情》(The Three Weissmanns of Westport)。
故事一開始七十八歲的喬瑟夫•韋斯曼(Joseph Weissmann)決定與他七十五歲的妻子貝蒂(Betty Weissmann)離異，並僅僅拋下一句:「我倆之間存在著無法相容的差異!」，其實喬瑟夫是愛上了年紀小他一半的女子。貝蒂結束了這段50年的婚姻搬到美國康州西城的海邊小屋療情傷。而貝蒂的女兒米蘭達和安妮除了因為兩人自身也都遇到了困境之外，也因為怕母親任性做出瘋狂的事而一起前往，姐姐米蘭達是位有幹勁又成功的版權經紀人，但是確因為她代理的作者偽造回憶錄而苦陷官司，最後被告到破產。妹妹安妮則是務實的圖書館館長，但是因為欠了一屁股債再也沒法支付昂貴的房租也只好離開原來工作的地方，母女三人在殘舊的海邊別墅展開新的生活。
當姐妹習慣西城的生活後，兩人卻雙雙墜入愛河，米蘭達愛上了一位雖然單身但是有小孩的男演員，安妮則更慘，她愛上的竟然是媽媽新歡的弟弟。西港的這三位苦情母女如何在現實的生活和浪漫的愛情中找到一個平衡點?
☆此書日前剛出版即登上紐約時報排行榜小說類別第7名
☆此書目前有電子書稿可以索取
Summary
A geriatric stepfather falls in love with a scheming woman half his age in Schine's Sense and Sensibility–flecked and compulsively readable follow-up to The New Yorkers. Betty Weissman is 75 when Joseph, her husband of nearly 50 years, announces he's divorcing her. Soon, Betty moves out of their grand Central Park West apartment and Joseph's conniving girlfriend, Felicity, moves in. Betty lands in a rundown Westport, Conn., beach cottage, but things quickly get more complicated when Betty's daughters run into their own problems. Literary agent Miranda is sued into bankruptcy after it's revealed that some of her authors made up their lurid memoirs, and Annie, drowning in debt, can no longer afford her apartment. Once they relocate to Westport, both girls fall in love—Annie rather awkwardly with the brother of her stepfather's paramour, and Miranda with a younger actor who has a young son. An Austen-esque mischief hovers over these romantic relationships as the three women figure out how to survive and thrive. It's a smart crowd pleaser with lovably flawed leads and the best tearjerker finale you're likely to read this year.
作者
About the Author
凱薩琳•席尼
(Cathleen Schine)擅於書寫浪漫小說，她的作品《The
Love Letter》被改拍成電影《情有千千結》，而另一本小說《Rameau's
Niece
》則是被改拍成電影《瑪格麗特的厄運》(The
Misadventures of Margaret)，此外她的文章也常出現於《紐約客》(The
New Yorker)、《紐約書評》
(The New York Review of Books)、《紐約時報雜誌》(The
New York Times Magazine)等。關於作者更多的介紹可以參考下面的維基網站:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cathleen_Schine
☆此書日前剛出版即登上紐約時報排行榜小說類別第7名
☆此書版權已授權義大利(Mondadori)、德國(Goldmann)、法國(Editions Phébus and France Loisirs Book Club)、波蘭(Proszynski)，此外義大利和以色列目前也已收到報價正在洽談中。
☆此書初刷4萬冊，但目前銷售非常好，國外已緊急再加印1萬冊，此書也是amazon目前 50大暢銷書之一