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RIDE THE FIRE Pamela Clare
Publisher: Leisure Books ( March 2005 )
Kenleigh/Blakewell family trilogy #3
He was her only hope for survival. She was his only chance at redemption.
There was only one rule on the frontier—survival.
So when a wounded, buckskin-clad stranger appeared at the door of her isolated cabin, Elspeth Stewart felt no qualms about disarming him and then tying him to her bed. Newly widowed and expecting her first child, she had to protect herself at all costs. And Nicholas Kenleigh threatened not only her safety, but her peace of mind.
The terrible scars on his body spoke of a tortured past, but his gentle touch and burning gaze awoke longings she had never expected to feel. Bethie had every reason in the world to distrust men; the cruelty she suffered at their hands had marked her soul, though her blonde beauty showed no sign of it.
But little by little she found herself believing in Nicholas, in his honor, his strength. As he brought her baby into the world, then took both mother and daughter into his care, she realized this scarred survivor could heal her wounded spirit, and together they would… Ride the Fire.
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Re: RIDE THE FIRE by Pamela Clare
既然是在幸福快樂的家庭長大,極受爹娘寵愛的孩子,那麼何以長大之後會遭遇那麼悽慘的不幸呢?
嗚,戰爭,都是戰爭惹的禍。殖民地和印地安人的戰爭打得腥風血雨,我們年輕氣盛的 Nicholas 加入了軍隊,然後被 Wyandot 印地安人俘虜,在他們手裡受盡了慘無人道的凌辱和折磨
當 Nicholas 終於脫離 Wyandot 印地安人的桎梏,返回爹娘的維吉尼亞莊園,恐怖的夢魘糾纏他不放,受俘虜期間所承受的可怕煎熬掏空了他的內在,他的心靈一片死寂,再也無法找回過去的自己。為了不讓摯愛的家人受到他改變之後的牽累,Nicholas 毅然離開家人,在粗獷危險的荒野地展開了他長達六年的孤獨流浪生活.....直到他再次受到攻擊,身負重傷闖入新寡不久的女主角 Elspeth (暱名 Bethie ) 居住的小農莊。當時 Bethie 已經大腹便便,而他是用槍抵著她的太陽穴來「說服」她治療他的傷口。
Nicholas 那時的模樣的確像個令人畏懼的野蠻人,身懷六甲又無依無靠的 Bethie 如何不感到害怕?她沒有被嚇得早產算是老天庇祐
(後來臨盆時刻到了,她的女兒急著瓜瓜落地,沒有接生經驗的 Nicholas 卻充當了「產婆」)
我超愛這本 Ride the Fire,不過請想看的童鞋務必要有充裕的心理準備:
此書極為黑暗,男主角 Nicholas 的過去,千瘡百孔(←這絕對可以按照字面詮釋,肉體以及心靈皆然),真相很令人揪心但是也很醜惡,特別是作者非常鉅細靡遺地描述 Nicholas 受印地安人折磨的細節。如果妳看完序幕章之後胃部不感到翻絞,那麼一氣呵成繼續往下看應該不成問題,因為不僅步調快,故事精采,背景和歷史考據栩栩如生,Pamela Clare 對於人物的刻劃更是生動和深入,儘管壞人壞得有點太徹底了,似乎過於 one-dimensional,不過並不影響我對此書整體的觀感。
此外,有著黑暗痛苦過去的並不只有 Nicholas 一個,Bethie 也曾是個受扭曲的命運無情踐踏的無助受害者;而且故事後半部,那個邪惡的繼兄還出現糾纏她...
即使一開始即已知曉大致情形如何了,但是在最後四分之一部分 Nicholas 終於對 Bethie 透露出他被 Wyandot 印地安人俘虜期間所發生之事的所有殘忍細節的時候,我還是感到如梗在喉,吞嚥不易。
甚至掙扎著該不該扣分。
但實在太喜愛 Nicholas 這角色了,真的無法狠下心鄙視他過去的某個骯髒作為;況且他已經付出了求生存所必須付出的每一種代價,能不發瘋已是奇蹟
雖然我相信可能會有讀者質疑在虛弱狀態以及憎惡對方的情況下還能 erect 的邏輯...