interpret a book/Affinity-Sarah Waters

24 September 1874 Pa used to say that any piece of history might be made into a tale: it was only a question of deciding where the tale began, and where it ended. That, he said, was all his skill. And perhaps, after all, the histories he dealt with were rather easy to sift like that, to divide up and classify—the great lives, the great works, each one of them neat and gleaming and complete, like metal letters in a box of type. I wish that Pa was with me now. I would ask him how he would start to write the story I have embarked upon to-day. I would ask him how he would neatly tell the story of a prison—of Millbank Prison—which has so many separate lives in it, and is so curious a shape, and must be approached, so darkly, through so many gates and twisting passages. Would he start it with the building of the gaols themselves? I cannot do that, for though I was told the date of it this morning I have forgotten it jiow; besides which, Millbank is so solid and so antique, I can't believe that there was ever a time when it did not sit upon that dreary spot beside the Thames, casting its shadow on the black earth there. He might begin it, then, with Mr Shillitoe's visit to this house, three weeks ago; or, he might begin it at seven this morning, when Ellis first brought me my grey suit and my coat—no, of course he would not start the story there, with a lady and her servant, and petticoats and loose hair. 1874年9月24号 父亲曾说过，在历史的长河中，每一个片段都可能衍生为一个故事，难以界定的只是故事的起止。而这，他说，正是他的工作重点。但是，或许正如手中打字机上这一个个闪着金属光泽的字母，他整理过的历史相当容易地就会被筛选，分配和归类----故事中那些伟大的人物，崇高的事业，每一部分都是那么的简明通透完美无瑕，璀璨得耀眼。 我多希望父亲现在就在我身边，我要问问他，他会怎样写我曾经历的那段故事，会用哪些简洁美好的字眼向人们诉说一个监狱里发生的事------ 谜畔监狱，有着稀奇古怪的外形，和那些需要穿过许许多多幽暗的门和弯曲的走廊，才能触碰得到的，一个又一个相互隔离着的生命。他会从介绍整座监狱说起吗？我没有办法这样做，因为即使有人今天早晨告诉我关于监狱的年代我随后就会忘掉，除此以外，谜畔非常坚固古老，以至于让人难以相信开始会有那么一段时期它不曾矗立在泰晤士河岸，阴郁地将它巨大的影子投映在黑暗的现实世界中。或许他会从三个礼拜前史利特先生的拜访说起；或者，从今天早上爱丽丝帮我穿好灰色外套和大衣开始----不可能，他当然不会从这里开始，不会从一位女士和她的佣人，衬裙和松散的头发开始这个故事。