A compelling vision of a disorietating and barbaric future from Doris Lessing, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Many years in the future, city life has broken down, communications have failed and food supplies are dwindling. From her window a middle-aged woman - our narrator - watches things fall apart and records what she witnesses: hordes of people migrating to the countryside, gangs of children roaming the streets. One day, a young girl, Emily, is brought to her house by a stranger and left in her care. A strange, precocious adolescent, drawn to the tribal streetlife and its barbaric rituals, she is unafraid of the harsh world outside, while our narrator retreats into her hidden world where reality fades and the past is revisited!

多丽丝·莱辛,英国著名作家,诺贝尔文学奖得主。囊括毛姆文学奖、英国皇家文学会荣誉奖等几十项文学大奖,被誉为继弗吉尼亚·伍尔夫之后英国最伟大的女作家。

1919年出生于波斯(现伊朗),英裔,年随父母迁居南非罗得西亚(现津巴布韦)。家境困窘,因眼疾辍学,16岁开始工作谋生,做过电话接线员、保姆、速记员等。1949年回到英国故乡,翌年以处女作《野草在歌唱》步入文坛,一举成名。自1952年起,五部曲系列小说《暴力的儿女们》的陆续发表,为她赢来世界声誉。1962年,代表作《金色笔记》问世,引起剧烈反响,堪称当代世界文学经典之作。1973年,里程碑力作《天黑前的夏天》隆重面市,以独到的眼光审视中年女性的精神危机,获得如潮好评,被《纽约时报》誉为“继马尔克斯的《百年孤独》之后最好的小说。”1974年,又一部重磅作品《幸存者回忆录》以富于哲人气质的深邃和诗人的想象探讨了人类文明的前途……创作绵延半个世纪,作品众多,题材广泛,在继承传统的基础上往往幻化出石破天惊的创新手法,而对人类处境的透彻理解则贯穿始终,体现出罕见的才情。2007年,因为在文学世界的巨大影响,被授予诺贝尔文学奖。