The Sleeper Awakes

By H.G. Wells

Book Overview

The Sleeper Awakes is H. G. Wells's wildly imaginative story of London in the twenty-second century and the man who by accident becomes owner and master of the world. In 1897 a Victorian gentleman falls into a sleep from which he cannot be waked. During his two centuries of slumber he becomes the Sleeper, the most well known and powerful person in the world. All property is bequeathed to the Sleeper to be administered by a Council on his behalf. The common people, increasingly oppressed, view the Sleeper as a mythical liberator whose awakening will free them from misery.

The Sleeper awakes in 2100 to a futuristic London adorned with wondrous technological trappings yet staggering under social injustice and escalating unrest. His awakening sends shock waves throughout London, from the highest meetings of the Council to the workers laboring in factories in the bowels of the city. Daring rescues and villainous treachery abound as workers and capitalists fight desperately for control of the Sleeper.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803298188
• ISBN13: 9780803298187
• Release Date: September 2000
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 300 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Very inventive

Considering when it was written, the author creates a futuristic society that appears good but has flaws like any other city. The inventions were interesting and the problems between the elite and the impoverished was depicted well. The sleeper's observation of what is going on around him is amusing because he is from a very different time. Good read.

when the sleeper wakes

When the Sleeper Wakes was a pretty good book. It was a little boring in some spots though. This wasn't one of H.G. Wells' better stories. I reccomend others like the Invisible Man or The War of the Worlds or The Time Machine.