Without Merit

　　對Merit Voss來說，房子外的白色柵欄是她家中唯一看似平凡的存在，而被柵欄所圈圍住的一切，全都與任何「正常」的定義沾不上邊。他們一家住在改為他用的教堂裡──她、父親、繼母、手足們，以及她的母親，雖然她的父母已離婚多年，她的母親仍然住在地下室，為社交焦慮所苦。



　　Merit感覺自己總是被忽視、在這個家裡格格不入，同時心裡埋藏了太多家人要她保守的秘密。她不如才華洋溢的雙胞胎姊妹Honor亮眼，因此常買下二手的獎盃獨自為自己慶祝。一次，當她在當地的骨董店瀏覽、搜尋她最新的收集目標時，她遇見了Sagan，這個男孩讓Merit逐漸卸下武裝、讓她心動──直到她發現他對她而言是不可能的。



　　受夠了謊言和令人窒息的現況，Merit決心要離開這個家，在那之前，她要將被隱瞞的醜聞公諸於世，粉碎這個幸福家庭的假象。而這個決定，將讓Merit被迫面對說出真相及失去她所愛男孩的震撼後果……。



　　Colleen Hoover筆下這個古怪、複雜、充滿挫折感的女主角將贏得讀者的心，Hoover試圖在這部讓人看見生命積極面的小說中，誠實地探討許多困難的問題，並挑戰了讀者對於家庭失常和心理疾病的預設立場，重新定義了何謂「正常」。(文/博客來編譯)

From Colleen Hoover, the #1 New York Times bestselling author of It Starts with Us and It Ends with Us, comes a moving and haunting novel of family, love, and the power of the truth.

Not every mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness.

The Voss family is anything but normal. They live in a repurposed church, newly baptized Dollar Voss. The once cancer-stricken mother lives in the basement, the father is married to the mother’s former nurse, the little half-brother isn’t allowed to do or eat anything fun, and the eldest siblings are irritatingly perfect. Then, there’s Merit.

Merit Voss collects trophies she hasn’t earned and secrets her family forces her to keep. While browsing the local antiques shop for her next trophy, she finds Sagan. His wit and unapologetic idealism disarm and spark renewed life into her--until she discovers that he’s completely unavailable. Merit retreats deeper into herself, watching her family from the sidelines, when she learns a secret that no trophy in the world can fix.

Fed up with the lies, Merit decides to shatter the happy family illusion that she’s never been a part of before leaving them behind for good. When her escape plan fails, Merit is forced to deal with the staggering consequences of telling the truth and losing the one boy she loves.

Poignant and powerful, Without Merit explores the layers of lies that tie a family together and the power of love and truth.

Colleen Hoover is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty-three novels, including It Ends with Us, All Your Perfects, Ugly Love, and Verity. In 2015, Colleen and her family founded a nonprofit called The Bookworm Box, a bookstore and monthly book subscription service that has donated over ＄1,000,000 to various charities to date. Colleen lives in Texas with her husband and their three boys. For more information, please visit ColleenHoover.com.