When the Sleeper Wakes

By: H. G. Wells

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Graham, an 1890s radical pamphleteer, was a young man when he finally resorted to medication for his insomnia and fell into a deep sleep. He wakes 200 years later, still youthful, to an age of great marvels and scientific achievement - and a world whose strange underlying economy is that it is all his private property. By inheritance and the compounding of interest, Graham the Sleeper has become the sole, final owner of everything, and revered as a leader, with a council that dictates to the world in his name.

This science-fiction classic was called by Wells himself "one of the most ambitious of my books". A stirringly prophetic novel, it envisioned flying, advertising, television, banking, labor organization, and totalitarianism, all within the framework of an exciting personal adventure story.

Public Domain (P)1997 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Nothing is more striking about Mr. Wells…than his power of lending freshness and vitality to some well-worn formula of fiction.” ( The Spectator)

This book is an excellent accompaniment to 1984

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Yes

What was one of the most memorable moments of When the Sleeper Wakes?

Chapter four

What about Frederick Davidson’s performance did you like?

He was able to move in and out of several dialects with out flaw.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

no

Any additional comments?

Excellent introduction to dystopia.