It is 1970 in a small town in California. “Bean” Holladay is twelve and her sister, Liz, is fifteen when their artistic mother, Charlotte, takes off to find herself, leaving her girls enough money to last a month or two. When Bean returns from school one day and sees a police car outside the house, she and Liz decide to take the bus to Virginia, where their widowed Uncle Tinsley lives in the decaying mansion that’s been in Charlotte’s family for generations. An impetuous optimist, Bean soon discovers who her father was, and hears stories about why their mother left Virginia in the first place. Money is tight, and the sisters start babysitting and doing office work for Jerry Maddox, foreman of the mill in town, who bullies his workers, his tenants, his children, and his wife. Liz is whip-smart—an inventor of word games, reader of Edgar Allan Poe, nonconformist. But when school starts in the fall, it’s Bean who easily adjusts, and Liz who becomes increasingly withdrawn. And then something happens to Liz in the car with Maddox. Jeannette Walls has written a deeply moving novel about triumph over adversity and about people who find a way to love each other and the world, despite its flaws and injustices.


故事發生在 1970 年代加州的一個小鎮裡。當時的小豆‧哈樂黛十二歲，她的姊姊麗姿十五歲，兩人的藝人媽媽夏綠蒂，為了尋找自我而離家遠行，留下足夠生活一兩個月的生活費給兩姐妹。有一天，小豆放學回家，看到家門外停著一輛警車，她和姊姊麗姿於是決定搭公車到維吉尼亞州投靠她們的鰥夫舅舅廷斯利。廷斯利舅舅住在一間日漸破敗的宅邸，這棟建築在夏綠蒂家已經傳承數代。在那裡，樂觀又性急的小豆很快地便發現自己的親生父親是誰，並聽了一些關於媽媽當初離開維吉尼亞州的故事。由於生活費日漸吃緊，兩姐妹開始當保母幫人照顧孩子，並為小鎮工廠的領班馬多克斯工作。馬多克斯常常霸凌他的勞工、房客、小孩和妻子。聰明伶俐的麗姿擅長文字遊戲，喜愛閱讀愛倫‧坡的作品，是一位不受傳統約束的女孩。秋天學期開始了，小豆輕鬆適應學校的新生活，但麗姿卻變得越來越孤僻寡言，後來和馬多克斯在車裡的麗姿更發生了一些事。珍奈特‧沃爾斯創作了一本深觸人心的小說，故事內容描寫人如何戰勝逆境，以及如何在面對世界的不公與缺失，仍能對彼此、對世界懷抱著愛。