Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 I dreamed of first love, a dark-haired girl with pale skin. I loved Mary Foley in her pink cardigan, smiling. For her, I would ride my invisible horse to the doors of Wild West saloons, shoot at Nazi stormtroopers, and score the winning goal for Ireland in the final moment of extra time. #2 The house where Mrs. Prunty lived was the ruin of a small cottage where Mrs. Doran lived alone. Mrs. Prunty’s husband had been a soldier, and one day he left in his green uniform on his motorbike and never came back again. #3 I loved the picture house. It was a world of imagination opened up for me by my grandmother. I would go there every week and see films about American soldiers, Indians, and circus performers. #4 I remember my father teaching me to ride a bicycle in the laneways among the high hedges. I wobbled and tumbled into the ditch, but eventually I reached the bottom without falling. I was riding down the hill with my feet on the handlebars.

俳優ガブリエル・バーンが綴る記憶の断片は、単なる回想録を超えた一篇の抒情詩です。幼少期の無垢な情熱や、銀幕に映る未知の世界への憧憬が、瑞々しくもどこか哀切な筆致で描かれています。それは、過去という名の亡霊たちと手を取り合い、失われた時間の中に永遠の輝きを見出す、魂の巡礼とも呼べる深淵な魅力に満ちています。 特筆すべきは、五感を揺さぶる圧倒的な描写力です。自転車で坂を駆け下りる高揚感や、古い映画館の匂いなど、極めて個人的な体験が読者の普遍的なノスタルジーを鮮烈に呼び覚まします。現実の厳しさと空想の豊かさが交錯する本作は、私たちが何に傷つき、何を愛して今の自分を形作ったのかを深く問いかける、文芸の真髄が宿る傑作です。