Take It from the Top

【這場戲，誰才是真正的壞女巫？】

一場夏日營隊、一齣音樂劇，以及一場醞釀了六年的友誼崩塌。

對 Eowyn 來說，藍普萊特湖夏季營隊是她唯一的避難所。在那裡，她可以暫時忘記喪母之痛，並與她最好的朋友 Jules 重逢。她們曾約定要一起演出最愛的音樂劇《女巫前傳》(Wicked) 。 Eowyn 是壞女巫 Elphaba，而 Jules 則是好女巫 Glinda。

但在第六個夏天，一切都變了。
Jules 變得冷漠、避而不見，甚至成了最熟悉的陌生人。

「每個故事都有兩面，如果你想知道真相，就得聽聽兩個人的說法。」

透過兩位少女交替的視角與橫跨六年的回憶剪輯，《Take It from the Top》 像是一場情感的解謎遊戲。作者 Claire Swinarski 犀利地剝開了友誼中隱藏的特權、偏見與誤解。

Set at a camp over the course of six summers, this novel dives into the falling-out of two girls from different backgrounds who thought they'd be friends forever...until a production of Wicked brings all their buried issues to the surface. Claire Swinarski, Edgar Award nominee of the ALA Notable What Happened to Rachel Riley?, tackles privilege, perspective, and the power of friendship in this page-turning puzzle that readers will devour.

Eowyn Becker has waited all year to attend her sixth summer at Lamplighter Lake Summer Camp. Here, the pain of her mom's death can't reach her, and she gets to reunite with her best friend, Jules Marrigan—the only person in the world who understands her. To top it off, Wicked—the girls' favorite musical—has been chosen for the camp's end-of-year production. If anyone can be Glinda to Eowyn's Elphaba, it's Jules!

But when Eowyn arrives at camp, everything seems wrong. The best-friend reunion Eowyn had been dreaming of doesn't go as planned. Jules will barely even look at Eowyn, let alone talk to her, and Eowyn has no idea why.

Well, maybe she does…

There are two sides to every story, and if you want to understand this one, you'll need to hear both. Told in a series of alternating chapters that dip back to past summers, the girls' story will soon reveal how Eowyn and Jules went from being best friends to fierce foils. Can they mend ways before the curtains close on what was supposed to be the best summer of their lives?