「侍女の物語」待望の続編、発売日前に通販で誤配　アマゾンに罰則求める声

【ニューヨークＡＦＰ＝時事】米人気TVドラマシリーズの原作となったカナダ人作家マーガレット・アトウッドのディストピア小説「侍女の物語」（1985年）の待望の続編が、今月10日の公式発売日前に誤って一部読者の元に配達されてしまったと出版社が4日、明らかにした。誤配したのは米インターネット通販大手アマゾン・ドットコムだとの報道がある。（写真はマーガレット・アトウッド氏）
　出版社ペンギンランダムハウスは、続編「Ｔｈｅ　Ｔｅｓｔａｍｅｎｔｓ（原題）」について、発売日の１０日まで決して出荷しないよう販売業者に指示していた。だが、オンラインで注文した複数の人が、既に本を入手している。
　ペンギンランダムハウスは、「非常に少部数」が「販売業者のミス」で発売日前に流通していることをツイッター上で認め、「現在このミスの対応をしている」と説明した。
　英紙ガーディアンによると誤配をしたのは米アマゾンで、米国内の顧客に約８００冊を配送したという。ＡＦＰはアマゾンに取材を試みたが、現時点では回答を得られていない。
　大ヒットした「侍女の物語」の続編は今週、権威ある英文学賞「マン・ブッカー賞」の最終候補作にノミネートされた注目作。
　この誤配に対し、アトウッドのファンは激怒。個人経営の書店も怒りや失望をあらわにし、アマゾンに罰則を科すようペンギンランダムハウスに求めている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2019/09/06-08:46）

Copies of Margaret Atwood's long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid's Tale were mistakenly sent to readers early, the publisher said Wednesday, sending fans of the Canadian author into a frenzy and angering independent booksellers.
Penguin Random House had instructed retailers to keep The Testaments strictly under wraps until its official release on September 10, but several online customers have already received the much-anticipated novel.
A very small number of copies had been distributed early due to a retailer error which has now been rectified, the publisher wrote on Twitter.
Britain's Guardian newspaper reported that the error was made by Amazon, which sent out around 800 copies early to customers in the United States.
The e-commerce giant did not immediately respond to a request for comment by AFP.
Atwood's follow-up to her hugely successful dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale was shortlisted for the Booker prize this week.
It is one of the most hotly anticipated sequels of recent times and retailers were under a strict embargo not to sell it head of its official release date.
Independent booksellers expressed their frustration and called on the publisher to penalize Amazon.
A reasonable person might argue that a vendor should see consequences for every copy of an embargoed book they release early, tweeted Lexi Beach, owner of New York's Astoria Bookshop.
Penguin Random House said the global release date remains September 10.
Readers took to Twitter to express their surprise and glee at receiving the book a week ahead of schedule.
Blessed be The Testaments (may the book open), wrote one, posting a picture of herself with the book covering her face.
The plot picks up 15 years after The Handmaid's Tale, which is set in a totalitarian state in the near-future that has relegated many women to the role of sex slaves used for procreation.
It was adapted into a hugely popular television series starring Elisabeth Moss, with many viewers saying it echoed a drift towards conservatism in the United States under President Donald Trump.
The adaptation was first aired in 2017 and won numerous awards, renewing interest in the book three over decades after its release.
MGM Studios and streaming platform Hulu confirmed to AFP Wednesday that they are already working on an adaptation of The Testaments.