书名：The Shadow King影子国王2020布克奖
作者：Maaza Mengiste
出版社名称：Canongate Books
出版时间：2020

语种：英语
ISBN：9781838851170
商品尺寸：以实物为准

包装：平装
页数：448（以实物为准）

"A beautifully crafted account of the female soldiers resisting Mussolini's invasion of Ethiopia in 1935 and their own oppression in Ethiopian society. Lyrical, furious and meticulously researched, it is a necessary act of historical reclamation" ― Guardian, Best Books of the Year

"The Shadow King is a beautiful and devastating work; of women holding together a world ripping itself apart. They will slip into your dreams and overtake your memories" -- MARLON JAMES

"Unforgettable. I suspect I won't read anything more moving this year" ― The Times, Book of the Month

这部抒情小说以第二次意大利-埃塞俄比亚战争的真实背景为背景。1935年，墨索里尼准备入侵她的祖国埃塞俄比亚，年轻的孤儿Hirut来到了基达内和艾斯特的家——他是皇帝海尔塞拉西军队的军官，而她是一个嫉妒的妻子，因孩子的死亡而陷入悲痛。埃斯特立刻对这位漂亮的女仆产生了反感，他们之间复杂的关系——怨恨、内疚、蔑视、不情愿的钦佩和同情——构成了后来的部分事件。当她的丈夫准备为即将到来的战争，以骄傲和勇气他们最强大的武器面对严重的武器短缺，阿斯特唤醒自己从沼泽的悲伤召集附近和远处的妇女。尽管基丹坚持说，她们的行为和妇女一样——组织补给、照顾伤员、埋葬死者——但她们学会了为空弹壳制造火药，保护自己和她们为之战斗的土地。

Mengiste尝试使用叙事手法，将推动故事向前发展的直接章节与穿插的插曲、希腊合唱队和通过照片描述的场景并列在一起。最后一幅是意大利军队摄影师埃托雷·纳瓦拉(Ettore Navarra)的作品，他被残忍的上校卡洛·富切利(Carlo Fucelli)招募来，从假想的胜利者的角度记录这场正在进行的战争。这些独立的故事层层堆叠在一起，天衣无缝地在Hirute、Aster、emperor、Fucelli和Navarra的故事之间穿梭。

With the threat of Mussolini's army looming, recently orphaned Hirut struggles to adapt to her new life as a maid. Her new employer, Kidane, an officer in Emperor Haile Selassie's army, rushes to mobilise his strongest men before the Italians invade.

Hirut and the other women long to do more than care for the wounded and bury the dead. When Emperor Haile Selassie goes into exile and Ethiopia quickly loses hope, it is Hirut who offers a plan to maintain morale. She helps disguise a gentle peasant as the emperor and soon becomes his guard, inspiring other women to take up arms. But how could she have predicted her own personal war, still to come, as a prisoner of one of Italy's most vicious officers?

The Shadow King is a gorgeously crafted and unputdownable exploration of female power, and what it means to be a woman at war.

Maaza Mengiste was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A Fulbright Scholar and professor in the MFA in Creative Writing & Literary Translation programme at Queens College, she is the author of The Shadow King, which was longlisted for the Booker Prize and the HWA Gold Crown, and Beneath the Lion's Gaze, named one of the Guardian's Ten Best Contemporary African Books. Her work can be found in the New Yorker, Granta and the New York Times, among other publications. She lives in New York City.