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Staring unflinchingly into the abyss of slavery, this spellbinding novel transforms history into a story as powerful as Exodus and as intimate as a lullaby. Sethe, its protagonist, was born a slave and escaped to Ohio, but eighteen years later she is still not free. She has too many memories of Sweet Home, the beautiful farm where so many hideous things happened. And Sethe’s new home is haunted by the ghost of her baby, who died nameless and whose tombstone is engraved with a single word: Beloved. Filled with bitter poetry and suspense as taut as a rope, Beloved is a towering achievement.　　《宠儿》堪称美国黑人历史的一座纪念碑。主要情节取材于一个真实的历史故事。小说中的主人公——女黑奴塞丝怀着身孕只身从肯塔基的奴隶庄园逃到俄亥俄的辛辛那提，奴隶主循踪追至，为了使儿女不再重复自己做奴隶的悲惨命运，她毅然杀死了自己的一个女儿。虽然这已是18年前的往事，但往事的梦魇一刻也不曾停止过对塞丝的纠缠。　　十八年后，奴隶制早已废除，而被她杀死的女婴还魂归来，和塞丝、塞丝的女儿丹芙以及塞丝的情人保罗生活在同一幢房子里。　　她以自己的出现日夜惩罚母亲当年的行为，不但加倍地向母亲索取着爱，甚至纠缠和引诱包罗，不择手段地扰乱和摧毁母亲刚刚回暖的生活。　　往事的梦魇一刻也不曾停止过对塞丝的纠缠，全书充满苦涩的诗意和紧张的悬念。