In 1987, Miri Ammerman returns to her hometown of Elizabeth, New Jersey, to attend a commemoration of the worst year of her life. Thirty-five years earlier, when Miri was fifteen, and in love for the first time, a succession of airplanes fell from the sky, leaving a community reeling. Against this backdrop of actual events that Blume experienced in the early 1950s, when airline travel was new and exciting and everyone dreamed of going somewhere, she paints a vivid portrait of a particular time and place—Nat King Cole singing “Unforgettable,” Elizabeth Taylor haircuts, young (and not-so-young) love, explosive friendships, A-bomb hysteria, rumors of Communist threat. And a young journalist who makes his name reporting tragedy. Through it all, one generation reminds another that life goes on.


美里‧阿默曼在 1987 年回到家鄉──紐澤西的伊莉莎白市，參加一場紀念活動，悼念 35 年前自己人生中最悲慘的一年。美里在 35 年前才 15 歲，當她第一次墜入愛河時，卻見證多起墜機事件，整個社區更因飛安事故陷入慌亂之中。這些事故，都是作者布盧姆在 1950 年代親身經歷的不幸，當時，航空旅遊仍是新穎又刺激的活動，大家都夢想著搭飛機去旅遊。作者透過生動的文字描繪，帶讀者穿越時光隧道，回到 1950 年代的美國，閱讀她的文字彷彿可以聽見爵士歌手納‧京‧高爾吟唱《難以忘懷》，看到伊莉莎白‧泰勒的髮型，感受 50 年代稚嫩的愛情與關係，見證人們對原子彈的恐懼以及共產黨威脅的傳言。作者也描寫，當時有一名年輕記者，藉由報導事故聲名大噪。作者透過文字傳遞重要訊息，無論世代如何更替，生命終究會延續下去。