Nothing gives me more joy than writing “Publication Day” for a book other than writing it again (and again. And again!). So welcome to the world the brand-new UK edition of A Man Lies Dreaming, my favourite book, out now in a gorgeous new paperback from publishers Head of Zeus.
Winner of a Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize for Best British Fiction, shortlisted for the British Fantasy Award, the Premio Roma, the Geffen Prize, and a Seiun Award – who knows where it will go next, before the inevitable Penguin Classic edition of 2054?
The obligatory Amazon link here! Though of course, if you can find an open independent shop, do consider ordering from them instead!
1939: Adolf Hitler, fallen from power, seeks refuge in a London engulfed in the throes of a very British Fascism. Now eking a miserable living as a down-at-heels private eye and calling himself Wolf, he has no choice but to take on the case of a glamorous Jewish heiress whose sister went missing.
It’s a decision Wolf will very shortly regret.
For in another time and place a man lies dreaming: Shomer, once a Yiddish pulp writer, who dreams lurid tales of revenge in the hell that is Auschwitz.
Prescient, darkly funny and wholly original, the award-winning A Man Lies Dreaming is a modern fable for our time that comes “crashing through the door of literature like Sam Spade with a .38 in his hand” (Guardian).
“The best book I read last year is A Man Lies Dreaming” – Sting
“Ambitious as hell” – Ian Rankin
“Theodor Adorno said that to write poetry after Auschwitz was barbaric. To which I would say, yes, but you can still write an excellent novel. A man Lies Dreaming is that novel.” – Philip Kerr
“A raw, difficult and brilliant work” – Silvia Moreno-Garcia