From one of our most powerful writers, a work of stunning frankness about losing a daughter. Richly textured with bits of her own childhood and married life with her husband, John Gregory Dunne, and daughter, Quintana Roo, this new book by Joan Didion examines her thoughts, fears, and doubts regarding having children, illness, and growing old. Blue Nights opens on July 26, 2010, as Didion thinks back to Quintana’s wedding in New York seven years before. Today would be her wedding anniversary. This fact triggers vivid snapshots of Quintana’s childhood—in Malibu, in Brentwood, at school in Holmby Hills. Reflecting on her daughter but also on her role as a parent, Didion asks the candid questions any parent might about how she feels she failed either because cues were not taken or perhaps displaced. “How could I have missed what was clearly there to be seen?” Finally, perhaps we all remain unknown to each other. Seamlessly woven in are incidents Didion sees as underscoring her own age, something she finds hard to acknowledge, much less accept. Blue Nights —the long, light evening hours that signal the summer solstice, “the opposite of the dying of the brightness, but also its warning”—like The Year of Magical Thinking before it, is an iconic book of incisive and electric honesty, haunting and profoundly moving.

2005年美國國家圖書獎的非小說類獎得獎作品 2005年《時代雜誌》十大好書 2005年《紐約時報》十大好書 2005年亞馬遜十大好書、編輯選書第一名 本書受書評家推崇為「傷慟文學的經典之作」，是當代深受敬重的小說與散文作家瓊．蒂蒂安垂暮之年的真情告白，不但囊括2005年各大獎，更躍登紐約時報暢銷排行榜第一名。 2003年聖誕節期間，蒂蒂安的獨生女因不明原因陷入昏迷，幾天後，她的丈夫心臟病猝發死亡。她看似堅強冷靜地安排後事，其實內心已陷入狂亂的異想世界…… 《奇想之年》除了哀傷動人的回憶外，還有許多對於生命的思考，「關於死，關於疾病，關於死亡的機率和運氣，關於幸與不幸，關於婚姻、孩子和記憶，關於悲傷，關於人們願意或不願意面對死亡……」完全顛覆了固有觀念。