2003年諾貝爾文學獎得主J. M. Coetzee，榮獲2016年曼布克獎提名最新力作！

　　當你搭船遠渡重洋，所有的記憶全被沖走，而你正展開一個新的人生……。就是這麼一回事。沒有過去、沒有歷史，當船停泊在港口時，我們爬下跳板，陷入此時此地，然後時間就此開始。

　　西蒙，一個失去記憶的難民，搭上一艘船，在船上他遇到正在尋找媽媽的五歲男孩大衛。西蒙幫助大衛找到他口中的媽媽伊內絲，但事實上伊內絲與大衛一點關係也沒有。不過，西蒙與伊內絲就這樣接下這個任務：照顧大衛，組成了一個有點奇特的家庭。

　　大衛是一個愛問問題的小男孩，快七歲時，他被送到一所舞蹈學校。正是在這裡，大衛遇到舞蹈學校隔壁博物館的員工狄米崔，但接踵而來的事，讓大衛發現大人們的所作所為，令他感到十分不安……。

　　在這個迷人的寓言故事裡，作者巧妙地運用故事情節交織出一連串問題：什麼是成長？何謂父母？理智與情感的拉鋸，以及我們究竟如何選擇活出自己的人生？

　　LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE 2016

　　When you travel across the ocean on a boat, all your memories are washed away and you start a completely new life. That is how it is. There is no before. There is no history. The boat docks at the harbour and we climb down the gangplank and we are plunged into the here and now. Time begins.

　　Davíd is the small boy who is always asking questions. Simón and Inés take care of him in their new town Estrella. He is learning the language; he has begun to make friends. He has the big dog Bolívar to watch over him. But he'll be seven soon and he should be at school. And so, Davíd is enrolled in the Academy of Dance. It's here, in his new golden dancing slippers, that he learns how to call down the numbers from the sky. But it's here too that he will make troubling discoveries about what grown-ups are capable of.

　　In this mesmerising allegorical tale, Coetzee deftly grapples with the big questions of growing up, of what it means to be a parent, the constant battle between intellect and emotion, and how we choose to live our lives.