The Sleeper: A Novel

Summary

In this gripping alternate reality thriller by international bestselling author Holly Seddon, one woman must navigate a life that was never meant to be hers in order to uncover unsettling truths about her past and the man she loves.

Librarian Maya is traveling home from Edinburgh to London when her sleeper train is struck by lightning. She wakes the next morning in a version of London she doesn’t recognize.

Not only is a stranger living in her apartment, but her husband Arthur has disappeared. Worse, in this reality, the Berlin Wall never fell, the Cold War never ended, and Britain is an authoritarian Soviet state. Maya’s parents did not kiss by the falling Berlin wall while on their gap year travels, and so Maya was never born.

Confused, alone, and with nowhere to go, Maya stumbles across the resistance movement, in which librarians like her play a key part. Sent undercover into the heart of government, Maya must navigate this terrifying world while desperately trying to find the people she loves—and a way home.