in sunshine or in shadow

作者:Charlotte Bingham

页数:576

价格:0

isbn号码:9780553402964

具体描述

Paperback: 576 pages

Publisher: Bantam Books; New Ed edition (1992)

A story set in Boston, the Irish countryside and war-torn London, which tells of the friendship between two very different girls who love the same man. Ellie is American to the core, well-behaved and beautiful, and Artemis, crippled by a riding accident, is spirited and very English

作者简介

Charlotte Bingham was born in Haywards Heath, in Sussex, the Poets County as it was called in those days. Her earliest memories, however, do not stem from that time, but from when she was three and being taken by her nanny to stay with her paternal grandparents at their home, Bangor Castle in the North of Ireland, a house built of Scottish stone in the grand Victorian Gothic manner. Since it was here where her first memories start it is hardly surprising that so many of her novels now seem to be set in large houses with old furniture and ancestral portraits.

Returning from Ireland she first went to school in London, and subsequently to a small school in the same village where she had been born. So from seven to sixteen the Sussex Downs and seaside once again became the most important factor in her life, something again that is reflected in her novels, loving as she does to set stories either by the sea or near rolling down land.

A few days after her sixteenth birthday she left school and went to stay on the Left Bank in Paris with a family of French aristocrats with the sole purpose of learning to speak French properly. In those days the Left Bank in Paris was the place to be for it was as yet undiscovered by any but students and the elite of French literature. The old bakery shops, the street markets and winding alleys were an unexpected pleasure for a young girl who had been in a boarding school for the last ten years of her life. Alone, she would wander into student cafes and small family restaurants carrying a statutory book modish poetry, all the time wondering if she would ever be good enough to be published. For with parents who were both writers it was hardly surprisingly perhaps Charlotte had started to write from the age of ten. Her first effort entitled; Death's Ticket was a thriller, and this was followed shortly afterwards by many other attempts, but this time at Women's Fiction. The all important turning point in her early career, however, did not come until she was nineteen when she wrote her autobiography, by which time she had begun to despair of ever being either published or, in the terms of the time, discovered.

The method of her discovery by a leading literary agent of the time reads somewhat like a publicist's dream. Charlotte was sitting in the famous downstairs Ritz Bar, now aged nineteen and three quarters, celebrating finishing CORONET AMONG THE WEEDS; when the gentleman in question came up to her and expressed astonishment at finding her in a place which, in those days, was not the usual haunt for nicely brought up young women. Since he was a friend of her parents he was naturally sworn to secrecy, and having warned her against too many such celebrations he promptly carried off her manuscript with him to his house in the country, and having duly read the one hundred and fifty pages declared that he could sell it anywhere. This he very promptly did after a small auction, sold to Heinemanns, the publishers.

CORONET AMONG THE WEEDS was to become a best seller. It was described as an irreverent look at High Society with a wonderfully funny depiction of her life as a teenager living at home with her Bohemian aristocratic parents as well as recording her search for a Superman among the male flotsam of the English Upper Classes whom she divided into Weeds, Drips and Leches. The book was published in ten countries including the USA where the Salingeresque quality of the book gave it an immediate appeal. Charlotte author-toured the US, appearing on all the top TV Chat shows and panel games as well as being cover-featured in Life magazine, Paris Match, Tatler, Vogue, Town and Country etc - as well as being interviewed by all the top US newspapers, most notably the New York Times and the Herald Tribune. She then followed the success of her precocious autobiography with a best selling novel entitled LUCINDA, which was adapted into a highly successful television screenplay. A decade later she published her sequel to her autobiography, titled CORONET AMONG THE GRASS, describing the first ten years of her marriage to the well known actor and playwright TERENCE BRADY. This also immediately entered the Best Selling charts and was later adapted by BRADY and BINGHAM into the hit television comedy series NO HONESTLY.

For a period of her life CHARLOTTE BINGHAM pursued a career as one half of the United Kingdom's most successful writing partnerships. Together BRADY and BINGHAM helped create and write one of Britain's most famous and enduring television dramas, UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS, a series which to this day is still shown almost daily on both British satellite television and the PBS in America. They were also responsible for other television hits, including YES HONESTLY, THOMAS AND SARAH - the spin-off series from UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS - NANNY, TAKE THREE GIRLS, PIG IN THE MIDDLE and FOREVER GREEN, besides authoring many successful stage plays and screenplays.

Their joint works have enjoyed global success and the writers also co-authored a series of books based on their most successful series, most notably ROSE'S STORY, the life and times of one of the maids in UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS.

More recently, CHARLOTTE BINGHAM has concentrated herself on writing novels solo, beginning with TO HEAR A NIGHTINGALE which again became an immediate Best Seller, and is still selling well, over ten years after publication. She followed this with another comparable success, THE BUSINESS, and then IN SUNSHINE OR IN SHADOW which to date has also sold well over 200,000 copies in the UK alone. Altogether to date Charlotte will have published eighteen novels in this period of work with the appearance of THE HOUSE OF FLOWERS (pub. August 2000), while her total volume of published fiction is over 30 titles.

Charlotte Bingham lives and works in an early eighteenth century Somerset house that was once a Rectory. She has a first floor study which overlooks part of the gardens and a small lake which is home to geese, moorhens, muscovy ducks, call ducks, and many other arriving and departing birds. Perhaps, because of this, her recent work more and more reflects the countryside. Sometimes it is the countryside in which she grew up, rural Sussex after the Second World War, and sometimes it is the West Country.

用户评价

我必须承认，这本书的结构设计简直是一场精妙的迷宫。它没有采用传统线性的叙事方式，而是采用了多重时间线和不同视角频繁切换的叙事策略，这在初期阅读时确实构成了一定的挑战。我花了相当长的时间才完全适应这种跳跃感，但一旦适应，那种豁然开朗的感觉是无与伦比的。作者似乎热衷于在看似不相关的事件之间建立起微妙的、只有在特定时刻才会显现的联系，这种“伏笔”的设置高明之处在于，它并非为了炫技，而是为了揭示一个更深层次的主题——即世间万物皆有其内在的必然联系。书中的语言风格极为大胆且富有个性，充满了口语化的力量和偶尔迸发出的诗意，这使得角色对话栩栩如生，仿佛我正坐在他们身边，听他们争辩、欢笑或哭泣。那些探讨社会边缘群体生存状态的章节，尤其震撼人心，它们以一种近乎残酷的真实感，撕开了温情脉脉的面纱，让人不得不直面那些被主流叙事所忽略的痛楚。这是一次对传统小说形式的颠覆性尝试，其艺术价值值得被反复咀嚼和研究。

这本小说以其细腻入微的笔触，将一段跨越时代的爱情故事娓娓道来。它不仅仅是关于两个灵魂的碰撞，更是一幅关于时间、记忆与抉择的宏大画卷。作者对人物内心世界的挖掘达到了令人惊叹的深度，每一个微小的犹豫，每一次不经意的眼神交流，都被赋予了深刻的象征意义。读到那些关于成长的段落时，我仿佛能感受到主人公们在迷雾中摸索前行的那种无助与坚定。叙事节奏的把控非常老练，时而如春日暖阳般和煦明快，时而又像深秋的冷雨般低沉压抑，这种强烈的反差使得阅读体验充满了张力。特别是对于场景的描绘，无论是繁华都市的霓虹闪烁，还是乡野小径的静谧幽深，都如同电影镜头般精准而富有感染力，让人身临其境，呼吸都仿佛随之改变。书中的一些哲学性的探讨，关于“何为永恒”的追问，也引发了我长时间的沉思，它没有给出标准答案，而是鼓励读者自己去构建属于自己的理解。整体来说，这是一部需要你投入时间、用心去品味的佳作，它在你的心底留下了一道悠长而温暖的痕迹。

这是一部结构极其紧凑、几乎找不到任何冗余文字的作品。作者以一种近乎冷峻的精确性来构建情节，每一个场景的切换、每一个对话的插入，都像是精密机械中的齿轮，缺一不可，且运转协调。它探讨的主题是关于“界限”——人与人之间、理想与现实之间、生与死之间的界限。故事的核心人物是一个看似坚不可摧的理想主义者，然而，作者却通过一系列精心设计的困境，逐步瓦解他的防御体系，展现了一个强大外壳下隐藏的脆弱核心。我特别留意到，书中对“光线”的运用达到了教科书级别的水准。不同的光线角度、不同的时间点，象征着人物在道德光谱上的不同位置。当阳光穿过尘封的窗户，洒在主人公沾满灰尘的旧书上时，那种瞬间的清晰感，比任何长篇的心理分析都更具冲击力。全书的基调是克制的，它很少使用夸张的情绪爆发，而是通过持续积累的微妙张力，最终在结尾处达到一个令人屏息的临界点。读完之后，我感到一种干净利落的满足，仿佛经历了一次彻底的思想“排毒”。

这本书最吸引我的地方，在于它那种近乎于民间传说般的魔幻写实主义色彩。它将我们熟悉的现实世界与一些光怪陆离、充满象征意义的元素巧妙地编织在一起，使得整个故事弥漫着一种既熟悉又陌生的氛围。例如，书中描绘的那个似乎永远笼罩在雾气中的小镇，本身就成了一个活生生的角色，它的气候、它的传说，都直接影响了居住在其中的人们的性格和命运。我读到关于“遗忘的仪式”的描述时，感到一阵毛骨悚然，那种集体失忆带来的无力感被描绘得淋漓尽致。作者的想象力是天马行空的，但所有的奇幻设定最终都服务于对人性的深刻拷问：当我们失去了历史的参照系，我们还剩下什么？小说的结构是螺旋上升的，每一次循环都将故事推向更深一层，同时也揭示出先前所见并非全貌。我尤其喜欢那种充满异域风情的描述性语言，它像一把精致的钥匙，打开了通往一个完全不同文化和信仰体系的大门。这是一次令人振奋的、充满想象力的精神漫游。

说实话，这本书的阅读过程更像是一场漫长而艰辛的攀登，沿途的风景时而壮丽，时而险峻，但登顶的满足感却是无可替代的。我尤其欣赏作者对于“沉默”的处理。在很多关键时刻，人物之间的交流并非通过激烈的言语冲突来推动，而是通过大量的内心独白和那些未说出口的话语来完成。这种对“留白”艺术的精湛运用，使得文本的张力提升到了一个全新的高度。你必须学会去阅读那些没有被写下来的文字，去解读角色面具下的真实表情。故事的核心冲突围绕着一个古老的家族秘密展开，这个秘密像一块沉重的石头，压在每一代人的心头。作者没有急于揭开谜底，而是耐心地铺陈线索，利用环境的变化来暗示人物命运的转折。比如，有一段关于暴风雨来临前宁静的描写，与角色即将面临的巨大变故形成了鲜明的对比，极具宿命感。这本书的配角塑造也极其成功，每一个次要人物都有其独立的生命轨迹和完整的动机，绝非脸谱化的工具人。这是一部关于耐心、关于传承，以及关于如何与过去的幽灵和解的史诗。

absurd! how could Artemis spent her money without any plan whatsoever when it's all she gotta left.n how could she afforded the horses keeping n a housekeeper if she's broke ... too romantic abt reality factors which turned me off....

absurd! how could Artemis spent her money without any plan whatsoever when it's all she gotta left.n how could she afforded the horses keeping n a housekeeper if she's broke ... too romantic abt reality factors which turned me off....

absurd! how could Artemis spent her money without any plan whatsoever when it's all she gotta left.n how could she afforded the horses keeping n a housekeeper if she's broke ... too romantic abt reality factors which turned me off....

absurd! how could Artemis spent her money without any plan whatsoever when it's all she gotta left.n how could she afforded the horses keeping n a housekeeper if she's broke ... too romantic abt reality factors which turned me off....

absurd! how could Artemis spent her money without any plan whatsoever when it's all she gotta left.n how could she afforded the horses keeping n a housekeeper if she's broke ... too romantic abt reality factors which turned me off....