The Blackbird Girls

【車諾比爆炸之後，灰燼中重生的友情】

在1986年一個春天的早晨，比鄰的兩個女孩 Valentina 與 Oksana 醒來發現了異常鮮紅的天空，她們的爸爸們工作的核電廠車諾比爆炸了。

在此之前，她們本來是班上互相爭鋒的死對頭，Oksana 的爸爸曾經還要她遠離擁有猶太血統的 Valentina，但現在她們倆正結伴搭乘火車逃離輻射傷害，去聖彼得堡投靠 Valentina 疏遠的祖母。在聖彼得堡的新生活，她們必須重新學會信任別人，而共處喪父之痛的兩人也漸漸變成從前意想不到的好朋友。Oksana 得面對不斷翻新、質疑父母一直以來灌輸她的觀念，而 Valentina 則必須保守好祖母的秘密，以免惹來使她們三人的殺身之禍。

The Blackbird Girls 的故事圍繞著兩個車諾比事件的受害者從競爭對手變成互相扶持的摯友，同時也跳回過去種族大屠殺的受害者，身處1941年第二次世界大戰的猶太女孩 Rifka 的故事。從這三位女孩的生命際遇中，訴說著歷史悲劇洪流中無可避免的失去與沖不散的珍貴友誼。

On a spring morning, neighbors Valentina Kaplan and Oksana Savchenko wake up to an angry red sky. A reactor at the nuclear power plant where their fathers work--Chernobyl--has exploded. Before they know it, the two girls, who've always been enemies, find themselves on a train bound for Leningrad to stay with Valentina's estranged grandmother, Rita Grigorievna. In their new lives in Leningrad, they begin to learn what it means to trust another person. Oksana must face the lies her parents told her all her life. Valentina must keep her grandmother's secret, one that could put all their lives in danger. And both of them discover something they've wished for: a best friend. But how far would you go to save your best friend's life? Would you risk your own?

Told in alternating perspectives among three girls--Valentina and Oksana in 1986 and Rifka in 1941--this story shows that hatred, intolerance, and oppression are no match for the power of true friendship.