Some thing’s are just sitting there, minding their own business and waiting to be discovered. Like America. And other things are probably better off left alone’. Nine-year-old Bruno has a lot of things on his mind. Who is the ’Fury’? Why did he make them leave their nice home in Berlin to go to ’Out-With’ ? And who are all the sad people in striped pyjamas on the other side of the fence? The grown-ups won’t explain so Bruno decides there is only one thing for it - he will have to explore this place alone. What he discovers is a new friend. A boy with the very

■作者簡介約翰．波恩（John Boyne）一九七一年生於愛爾蘭都柏林。自都柏林聖三一大學畢業後，於英國東安格利亞大學攻讀碩士學位（該校以創意寫作課程聞名，《戴珍珠耳環的少女》作者崔西．雪佛蘭等知名作家皆出自該校）。波恩擅長從動盪的歷史背景切入，刻畫當面對道德和情感的抉擇之時，人性的掙扎與矛盾。他的作品已被翻譯成四十五種語言，其中《穿條紋衣的男孩》在全世界各地得獎連連，熱賣突破五百萬冊，並已被改編拍成電影；奇幻小說《諾亞的魔幻旅程》不但備受讚譽，更入圍愛爾蘭文壇最高榮譽「愛爾蘭國家書卷獎」；《白晝之夜》以俄國大革命為背景，深入膾炙人口的末代公主之謎，細膩描繪愛情的考驗，入圍二○一○年德國讀者票選年度最佳小說