The Wives of Los Alamos

　　哪裡都不能去，什麼也不能說，因為我們絕對不能曝光……
　　首度從女性角度出發，以詩意筆觸描寫與世隔絕的核武研發者生活

　　故事背景在1940年代的美國，五個原本住在柏克萊、劍橋、巴黎、倫敦、芝加哥的科學家太太，為了派駐在國家實驗室工作的先生，一起來到新墨西哥的荒涼小鎮Los Alamos。最初在心中勾勒的美好家園，被鎮上嚴格的軍事化管理與諱莫如深的神秘氛圍給消磨殆盡，她們無從得知先生的工作內容，住家地址只有郵政信箱號碼，甚至整個小鎮都被鐵絲網團團包圍，而這一切詭異的舉措只為了守住一個無法公開的最高機密──製造核武。

　　隨著核彈研發時程的推進，她們成為彼此的好友，各家孩子也陸續出生、長大，當初破敗的小鎮逐漸發展成為一個有規模的社區，儘管如此，他們依舊無法擁有遷徙的自由，不准與外界聯繫，被迫與親人斷絕往來。但最讓人難以釋懷的始終是戰爭爆發後，這些科學家聯手研發的核武最終成為毀滅性的殺人武器，造成數以萬計的死亡與歷史上抹滅不去的傷害……（文/外文館編譯）

　　Their average age was twenty-five. They came from Berkeley, Cambridge, Paris, London, Chicago—and arrived in New Mexico ready for adventure, or at least resigned to it. But hope quickly turned to hardship as they were forced to adapt to a rugged military town where everything was a secret, including what their husbands were doing at the lab. They lived in barely finished houses with P.O. box addresses in a town wreathed with barbed wire, all for the benefit of a project that didn’t exist as far as the public knew. Though they were strangers, they joined together—adapting to a landscape as fierce as it was absorbing, full of the banalities of everyday life and the drama of scientific discovery.

　　And while the bomb was being invented, babies were born, friendships were forged, children grew up, and Los Alamos gradually transformed from an abandoned school on a hill into a real community: one that was strained by the words they couldn’t say out loud, the letters they couldn’t send home, the freedom they didn’t have. But the end of the war would bring even bigger challenges to the people of Los Alamos, as the scientists and their families struggled with the burden of their contribution to the most destructive force in the history of mankind.

　　The Wives of Los Alamos is a novel that sheds light onto one of the strangest and most monumental research projects in modern history. It's a testament to a remarkable group of women who carved out a life for themselves, in spite of the chaos of the war and the shroud of intense secrecy.