History of the Rain (Longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2014)

本書是 Niall Williams「Faha 系列」的第一部小說，亦曾入圍 2014 年 Man Booker Prize 長名單。故事由臥病在床的少女 Ruthie Swain 展開，她在雨聲淅瀝的閣樓房間裡，試圖透過文字尋回亡父的身影。她的周圍堆滿父親留下的近四千冊藏書，然而真正的故事並不只在紙頁之中，而是深植於愛爾蘭潮濕土地與世代傳承的記憶。Ruthie 透過書寫，重現家族與土地交織的歷史，也在文字裡找尋重生的力量。這是一封獻給文學與講述的情書，充滿詩意與深情。

By the author of Four Letters of Love, the international bestseller now a major film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan. The first novel in Niall Williams’ beloved Faha series - longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker PrizeBy the author of Four Letters of Love, the international bestseller now a major film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan. The first novel in Niall Williams’ beloved Faha series - longlisted for the 2014 Man Booker Prize

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2014

By the author of Four Letters of Love, the international bestseller now a major film starring Helena Bonham Carter and Pierce Brosnan

‘A love letter to literature and storytelling’ Eimear McBride
‘I am utterly obsessed with Niall Williams’ Ann Patchett

In her attic room, with the rain rushing down the windows, Ruthie Swain is trying to find her father through stories.

Brought home after a collapse, she lies surrounded by her father’s library of three thousand, nine hundred and fifty-eight books. But Ruthie’s story, and the story of the Swains before her, is rooted not in these books’ pages, but in the land – fourteen rain-sodden acres of earth useless for farming, but teeming with stories.

From her bed, Ruthie writes Ireland, with its weather, its rivers, its lilts, and its lows. The stories she recounts bring back to life multiple generations buried in this soil - and they might just bring her back into the world again, too.