The Shapes of Sleep (1962)
J.B. Priestley
With a new introduction by Rod Slater
Book Description
Mild-mannered Ben Sterndale is an out-of-work investigative reporter who likes nothing better than a quiet evening at home with an eighteenth-century novel and a classical music record. But when he is hired to locate a document stolen from a London advertising agency, he quickly finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of international intrigue. By the time he traces the missing paper to a rare stamp dealer, the man is already dead and the only clue is a cryptic phrase about ‘the shapes of sleep’, uttered with his dying breath. The trail leads Sterndale to Berlin, a divided city where shadowy figures from both East and West are desperate to get their hands on the shapes of sleep. But what are they, and why are so many people willing to kill for them? Are they some kind of weapon, part of a Communist plot, or something even more sinister than Sterndale can possibly imagine?
An unusual mix of spy thriller, existential mystery, and wry social commentary, J. B. Priestley’s The Shapes of Sleep (1962) is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the final page. This edition, the first in almost 20 years, includes a new introduction by Rod Slater.
J.B. Priestley
With a new introduction by Rod Slater
Book Description
Mild-mannered Ben Sterndale is an out-of-work investigative reporter who likes nothing better than a quiet evening at home with an eighteenth-century novel and a classical music record. But when he is hired to locate a document stolen from a London advertising agency, he quickly finds himself embroiled in a deadly game of international intrigue. By the time he traces the missing paper to a rare stamp dealer, the man is already dead and the only clue is a cryptic phrase about ‘the shapes of sleep’, uttered with his dying breath. The trail leads Sterndale to Berlin, a divided city where shadowy figures from both East and West are desperate to get their hands on the shapes of sleep. But what are they, and why are so many people willing to kill for them? Are they some kind of weapon, part of a Communist plot, or something even more sinister than Sterndale can possibly imagine?
An unusual mix of spy thriller, existential mystery, and wry social commentary, J. B. Priestley’s The Shapes of Sleep (1962) is a page-turner that will keep readers guessing until the final page. This edition, the first in almost 20 years, includes a new introduction by Rod Slater.
reviews
‘The Shapes of Sleep is not easy to describe, but there is no doubting its quality, in which gaiety and sanity are matched by invention . . . you must read this entertaining fiction; and no doubt you will.’ – John Davenport, Observer
‘Splendid . . . this absorbing topical tale . . . has the master stamp . . . in pace, ingenuity, coherence, it is completely assured, and with the special Priestley slant of wry observation.’ – Evening Standard
‘Splendid . . . this absorbing topical tale . . . has the master stamp . . . in pace, ingenuity, coherence, it is completely assured, and with the special Priestley slant of wry observation.’ – Evening Standard
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BOOK DETAILS
ISBN: 1939140986 ISBN-13: 978-1939140982 $15.99 US, 174 pp. Trade paper Published 2014 |
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ALSO AVAILABLE THROUGH ONLINE RETAILERS
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AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
John Boynton Priestley was born in 1894 in Yorkshire, the son of a schoolmaster. After leaving Belle Vue School when he was 16, he worked in a wool office but was already by this time determined to become a writer. He volunteered for the army in 1914 during the First World War and served five years; on his return home, he attended university and wrote articles for the Yorkshire Observer. After graduating, he established himself in London, writing essays, reviews, and other nonfiction, and publishing several miscellaneous volumes. In 1927 his first two novels appeared, Adam in Moonshine and Benighted. In 1929 Priestley scored his first major critical success as a novelist, winning the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for The Good Companions. Angel Pavement (1930) followed and was also extremely successful. Throughout the next several decades, Priestley published numerous novels, many of them very popular and successful, including Bright Day (1946), and Lost Empires (1965), and was also a prolific and highly regarded playwright.
Priestley died in 1984, and though his plays have continued to be published and performed since his death, much of his fiction has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. Recently, some of his most famous novels have been reprinted in England by Great Northern Books; Valancourt Books is republishing Benighted and Priestley’s excellent collection of weird short stories The Other Place (1953).
For more information on J.B. Priestley, visit the official website at http://www.jbpriestley.co.uk/JBP/Home.html or the website for the J.B. Priestley Society at http://www.jbpriestleysociety.com/.
Priestley died in 1984, and though his plays have continued to be published and performed since his death, much of his fiction has unfortunately fallen into obscurity. Recently, some of his most famous novels have been reprinted in England by Great Northern Books; Valancourt Books is republishing Benighted and Priestley’s excellent collection of weird short stories The Other Place (1953).
For more information on J.B. Priestley, visit the official website at http://www.jbpriestley.co.uk/JBP/Home.html or the website for the J.B. Priestley Society at http://www.jbpriestleysociety.com/.