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When his wife dies in a fall from a tree in their backyard, linguist Paul Iverson is wild with despair. In the days that follow, Paul becomes certain that Lexy's death was no accident. Strange clues have been left behind: unique, personal messages that only she could have left and that he is determined to decipher. So begins Paul's fantastic and even perilous search for the truth, as he abandons his everyday life to embark on a series of experiments designed to teach his dog Lorelei to communicate. Is this the project of a madman? Or does Lorelei really have something to tell him about the last afternoon of a woman he only thought he knew? At the same time, Paul obsessively recalls the early days of his love for Lexy and the ups and downs of life with the brilliant, sometimes unsettling woman who became his wife.
晚秋的黃昏，一個女人從蘋果樹上墜落而亡，到底是意外還是自殺？無人知曉。女人最后以仰躺的姿勢與世界告別，心里到底是懷著絕望，還只是單純想以死來報復別人？也沒有人知道。唯一的目擊者，卻是女人的愛犬羅莉。女人的丈夫保羅是個語言學家，因為思念妻子卻無從得知她真正的死因，竟然異想天開打算教狗說話，讓它說出當天出事的原因。在這期間，保羅逐漸開啟了和妻子之間的記憶之盒：從他們第一次約會、妻子制作亡者面具、她對靈亡世界的著迷、接連不斷詭異而殘破的夢境……至此，保羅才漸漸拼貼出妻子的樣貌。
保羅是否能教會羅莉說話？將用何種方式找到他們共通的語言？他們之間那座語言的“巴別塔”能否真的建立起來？這將是作者想借小說給予讀者思考的地方：“人人都以為和自己最親近的人共有一座巴別塔，以為自己最了解那個親近的人——然而，這座巴別塔真的存在嗎?”似乎只有在真相浮現之時才能知道答案。
About Author:
Carolyn Parkhurst holds an MFA in creative writing from American University. She has published fiction in the North American Review, the Minnesota Review, Hawai'i Review, and the Crescent Review. She lives in Washington, D. C., with her husband and their son.
卡羅琳·帕克絲特，美學碩士，美國著名暢銷書作家。作品曾多次在《北美評論》、《明尼蘇達評論》、《夏威夷評論》上發表。目前她和家人居住在華盛頓。
（改編自金石堂網絡書店 ）
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