English Summary/英文概要： For years, Johanna Reiss’ American husband, Jim, encouraged her to return to Holland to chronicle the two years, seven months, and one day she had spent hiding from the Nazis in rural Usselo, Holland. In 1969, she finally made the trip.

Accompanied by Jim and their two young children, Reiss intended to spend seven weeks researching the book that would eventually become The Upstairs Room, her Newbery Honor–winning account of her time hiding in the attic of a farmhouse in which for a time a contingent of Nazi soldiers was billeted.

But unknown to the millions of people who went on to read her beloved classic, behind the dark and painful story of the book was a still darker tale: Reiss’ husband returned to America early and committed suicide at age thirty-seven, leaving no note.

For Reiss, an ongoing reckoning with universal tragedy becomes particular: she is forced to reckon, too, with Jim’s death—and explain it to her children. Subtle and disturbing, the book is a powerful consideration of memory, violence, and loss, told in a stunning and sparse narrative style.

Chinese Summary/中文概要： 讀過《安妮的日記》更不能錯過喬安娜‧萊絲的真實故事

Johanna Reiss是經典著作The Upstairs Room的作者，榮獲紐約時報的好評推薦，被讚譽為「如同安妮法蘭克（安妮日記的作者）令人激賞的重要作品」。Johanna是紐伯瑞文學獎(Newbery Honor)得主、猶太書籍學會之童書獎(Jewish Book Council Children’s Book Award)得主，以及獲得布克斯特胡德青少年圖書獎(Buxtehuder Bulle)之作者。
喬安娜‧萊絲在1969年受到丈夫的鼓勵回到荷蘭，過不久即受到納粹的迫害。在丈夫吉姆與兩個小孩的陪伴下，喬安娜花了七週的時間寫下故事The Upstairs Room，回憶當時困苦的歷程。在寫作期間的同時還要躲避納粹士兵在農舍外的追捕。
本書中描述的心路歷程背後仍然是一個更悲傷的故事。喬安娜的丈夫提早回到美國而且在37歲時自殺，且沒有留下任何音訊。對於她接下來要面對的是向她的小孩解釋悲傷的過往和丈夫自殺的原因。此書是對回憶、暴行和失去的思索以令人震驚與少見的敘述體裁述說這段往事。(CL)

Awards/获奖情况： "Like so many Holocaust surviors, Reiss was emotionally crippled. Then another darkness fell... [a] searing journey."---Leslie Garis, The New York Times Book Review

"A beautifully-written memoir … one of the most moving books I have read."---Lucy Kavaler, author of The Astors: A Family Chronicle of Pomp and Power

"A state of memory, a day-to-day account of the limbo one is left with when one’s life is snatched away.... Reiss is again seeking and questioning a larger force."---Lizzie Skurnick, Chicago Tribune (front page)

"A Hidden Life is a compelling and chilling memoir about the tragic, far-reaching effects of world history on personal history. Writing in the sparest and most self-effacing prose, Joanna Reiss manages to break the reader’s heart."---Hilma Wolitzer, author of Summer Reading and Hearts

"In A Hidden Life, Johanna Reiss weaves two great misfortunes into a brave and beautiful story. As we read, we rush back and forth between 1940s occupied Holland and 1960s New York, searching for the pieces of the puzzle that might lay bare her husband’s—and her own—story. This book brims with courage and compassion. It will make you want to hold your own family closer."---Kristen den Hartog, co-author of The Occupied Garden

"Johanna Reiss wrote one memoir, then discovered another hidden underneath.... A Hidden Life is that second story, moving between 1940s Holland and 1960s New York City. ’How do you tell children,’ she thinks, ’that life is one continuous goodbye, that with each day the end comes a little nearer . . .; how do you explain that people you’re close to, or thought you were, can just vanish?’"---Susan Salter Reynolds, Los Angeles Times

"Gripping"---Algemeen Dagblad (Dutch daily)

"A touching and tragic story that is bound to impress." ---Dizzie.nl

"A Hidden Life shows that working through traumas can lead to a moving literary work."---Quinta