Summary
Summary of The Sleeper Awakes
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Progress raises a question of power
Graham, an overworked man from 1890s England, falls into a trance and wakes in a vast, electric London more than two centuries later. His savings have become the largest fortune on Earth, and strangers crowd the streets shouting his name.
Moving roads, flying machines and speaking newsboards make this future a place of wonders. Yet Wells gives each wonder a question: who benefits from it? Graham's journey through an unfamiliar city becomes an inquiry into the wealth and power hidden behind progress.
Key idea 2
A stranger offers Graham another chance
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Key idea 3
Money grows while its owner sleeps
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Key idea 4
The celebrated Sleeper becomes a prisoner
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Key idea 5
Rescue draws Graham into a revolt
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Key idea 6
Victory leaves Graham open to distraction
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Key idea 7
Helen reveals the cost of pleasure
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Key idea 8
Belief makes authority a moral choice
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Key idea 9
Graham must turn wonder into action
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For readers who enjoy early science fiction, vivid future cities, daring flights and political struggles, and who like to see how a great storyteller pictured a world shaped by money, machines and crowds.
What this book is
The Sleeper Awakes is a novel by H. G. Wells, first published around the turn of the twentieth century. It asks a simple question: what would a man from 1890s England make of the world two centuries on? Wells answers with a vast, noisy, electric London, ruled by wealth and watched by machines.
You meet Graham, an overworked and sleepless man who falls into a trance on the Cornish coast. He wakes to find that his savings have grown into the largest fortune on Earth, and that crowds are shouting his name. Wells uses him as a guide through moving roads, flying machines, speaking newsboards and pleasure cities, and he uses the same tour to question who profits from progress.
This summary walks you through the story up to its last turn, shows what the book is really about, and explains how Wells builds his future. Let us begin on a cliff path at Pentargen, where a stranger cannot sleep.
In this summary
- 1A sleepless man meets a kind strangerFree
- 2Twenty years pass beside a glass case
- 3He wakes to crowds and a locked door
- 4Three days in the silent rooms
- 5A rescue across the roofs of London
- 6The march, the darkness and the old man
- 7Ostrog, the Boss, and a brief reign
- 8Helen Wotton shows him what the world has become
- 9What the book is really about
- 10How Wells tells it
Key point 1 of 10
A sleepless man meets a kind stranger
The story opens at Boscastle on the Cornish coast. A young artist named Isbister walks toward the cove of Pentargen and finds a man sitting beneath the rocks, red-eyed and in tears. The stranger says he has not slept for six nights. He worked himself into this state with drugs and strong coffee while finishing some task, and now his mind spins like a whirlpool.
The man speaks of ending his life by throwing himself from the cliff, since only there can he find rest. Isbister, bored and eager to be useful, answers with dry humour. He says suicide by cliff is so amateurish. He takes charge, talks about harbours and sketches, and brings the man home to his lodging.
The stranger sinks into an armchair and does not move. Isbister tiptoes out, lights a pipe in the garden, and waits. When he returns in the dark, he hears no breathing. The stranger's eyes are rolled back, white and blank.
This opening matters because it sets up everything that follows. The sleeper is a man worn out by effort and loneliness, with no wife, no children and no duty to hold him. He is the kind of man who would seize a second chance, and the book will test what he does with it.
That’s 1 of 10 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
Why does Graham possess enormous wealth when he wakes?
Right. “Graham owns the world largely because savings and bequests grew over the long years while he slept.”Not quite. “Graham owns the world largely because savings and bequests grew over the long years while he slept.”
What does Helen reveal about the Labour Department?
Right. “She says the common people are slaves of the Labour Department, which grew out of the old workhouse and the Salvation Army.”Not quite. “She says the common people are slaves of the Labour Department, which grew out of the old workhouse and the Salvation Army.”
What central conflict emerges between Graham and Ostrog?
Right. “The scene sets the quarrel at the heart of the book, which is compassion against cold power.”Not quite. “The scene sets the quarrel at the heart of the book, which is compassion against cold power.”
Who’s who
- Graham
- Graham is a long-sleeping man whose immense accumulated fortune is administered by rulers acting in his name.
- Ostrog
- Ostrog is a powerful rebel leader who challenges the Council and offers Graham help in the unfamiliar world.
- The Council
- The Council is the ruling group that administers Graham's wealth and keeps him under close watch after his awakening.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 77,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 5 h 10 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary; paperback, hardcover and large print at cost
- LanguagesEnglish and 13 other languages
Questions about The Sleeper Awakes
What is The Sleeper Awakes about?
A man in the 1890s falls into a trance and wakes over two hundred years later. His savings have grown into a fortune that makes him ruler of the world, and he is drawn into a revolution in a vast future London.
Who is Ostrog in The Sleeper Awakes?
Ostrog is the Boss who leads the people's revolt against the White Council in the Sleeper's name. He believes in strong rulers and sees the common people as a crowd to be steered, which sets him against Graham.
What are the Labour Department and the blue canvas?
The Labour Department is a huge company that grew from the old workhouse. It gives food and shelter to the poor in return for work. Its workers wear blue canvas, and most cannot escape it.
When was The Sleeper Awakes written and is it a true story?
It is a work of imagination by H. G. Wells, published around the turn of the twentieth century. It uses a sleeping hero to picture a future London and to comment on the wealth, cities and politics of Wells's own day.
Is The Sleeper Awakes easy to read?
It moves quickly, with vivid scenes of chases, crowds and flights, short chapters and plain, lively description. Strange future words are explained by the story as Graham learns them, so you can follow along comfortably.
