Trudy has been unfaithful to her husband, John. What’s more, she has kicked him out of their marital home, a valuable old London town house, and in his place is his own brother, the profoundly banal Claude. The illicit couple have hatched a scheme to rid themselves of her inconvenient husband forever. But there is a witness to their plot: the inquisitive, nine-month-old resident of Trudy’s womb. As Trudy’s unborn son listens, bound within her body, to his mother and his uncle’s murderous plans, he gives us a truly new perspective on our world, seen from the confines of his. McEwan’s brilliant recasting of Shakespeare lends new weight to the age-old question of Hamlet's hesitation, and is a tour de force of storytelling.


特鲁蒂對丈夫約翰不忠，甚至把他踢出愛的小窩，這是一間昂貴的老倫敦風情透天別墅，而特鲁蒂出軌的對象竟然是丈夫的兄弟——平庸不堪的克勞德。
這對恐怖情侶密謀著要永遠擺脫她那行動不方便的丈夫，但是，整起計畫有個目擊者：特鲁蒂腹中好奇愛問的九個月大胎兒，特鲁蒂的兒子在腹中聽著母親和叔叔的謀殺計劃。這名小嬰兒從自身獨特的角度出發，帶給我們一個嶄新的世界觀。作者伊恩．麥克伊旺以傑出的手法重新解讀莎士比亞的戲劇，賦與哈姆雷特猶豫不決的老問題新觀點，本書是一本值得大家閱讀的優質故事書。