8 h 35 minAudiobook7 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at costPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 211 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 211 pagesAbout this book
What if you woke as the richest person alive—and found a whole world ruled in your name?
In H. G. Wells's The Sleeper Awakes, Graham falls into a sleep no one can break. Two centuries later, he opens his eyes to a London almost beyond recognition. Vast buildings enclose the city, moving roads carry crowds, and flying machines cross the sky. His fortune has grown into a source of immense power.
But wealth does not mean freedom. The Council watches Graham closely while ruling in his name. Outside, the Sleeper has become a public symbol, and a rebellion led by the forceful Ostrog offers escape. As Graham discovers the labour beneath the city's comforts, he must confront what his wealth means for people with little control over their lives.
What you’ll discover
- A city beyond recognition Explore a London where immense structures and moving roads make the familiar feel strange.
- Wealth without control Follow Graham as he learns how little ownership means when others wield its power.
- A forceful rebel leader Meet Ostrog, whose challenge to the Council offers Graham a path into political struggle.
- The cost of comfort Look beneath the spectacle to the workers whose labour sustains the city's impressive machinery.
- Progress under question Consider whether technical achievement brings freedom when power remains concentrated in so few hands.
Who will love it
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’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A sleepless man and a glass case
- He wakes to crowds and a locked door
- Three days in the silent rooms
- A rescue across the roofs of London
- The march, the darkness and the old man
- Ostrog, the Boss, and a brief reign
- Helen Wotton shows him the world
- What the book is really about
- How Wells tells it
Who’s who
- GrahamAn overworked man of the 1890s who sleeps for two centuries and wakes as owner of the world, longing to understand it and to use his power well.
- IsbisterA young artist at Boscastle who finds the sleepless stranger, looks after him, and later returns as a prosperous businessman to see him in his glass case.
- WarmingGraham's cousin, a London solicitor who manages his property for twenty years and believes the sleeper will never wake.
- HowardGraham's heavy-browed chief guardian, loyal to the Council, who keeps him secluded and avoids every straight answer.
- OstrogThe white-haired Boss who leads the revolt in Graham's name and believes strong rulers must govern the masses.
- Helen WottonOstrog's earnest niece, who tells Graham how the poor suffer and begs him to rule for their sake.
- LincolnOstrog's half-brother, a quick-talking agent who guides Graham through the early days of the revolt and serves his chief.
- AsanoGraham's polite Japanese attendant, who guides him through the city and tries to keep him calm.
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- Large-print eBook
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- Audiobook
- 8 h 35 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 7 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in, 211 pages: USD 9.95 when you start free, USD 15.95 on its own.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in, 211 pages: USD 18.95 when you start free, USD 24.95 on its own.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in, 318 pages: USD 14.95 when you start free, USD 20.95 on its own.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in, 318 pages: USD 22.95 when you start free, USD 28.95 on its own.
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The Sleeper Awakes
by H. G. Wells · 1910
A sleepless man falls into a trance on the Cornish coast and wakes two centuries later as owner of the whole world.
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In short
What would a man from the 1890s make of the world two hundred years on? H.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A sleepless man and a glass case
On the Cornish coast, a young artist named Isbister finds a stranger beneath the rocks at Pentargen, red-eyed and in tears. The man has not slept for six nights and speaks of throwing himself from the cliff. Isbister answers with dry humour and brings him home.
The stranger sinks into an armchair and falls into a trance unlike any known case. He is taken to London and laid in a glass case on a waterbed. Twenty years later Isbister returns and meets Warming, a solicitor who is the sleeper's cousin. The man is named Graham.
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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 replaces the old workhouse and grows partly from the Salvation Army. It gives food and shelter to the poor in return for work. Its workers wear blue canvas, and most cannot escape it.
The author
H. G. Wells
1866–1946 · English science fiction novelist
H. G. Wells (1866–1946) was an English writer born in Bromley, Kent. He wrote novels, short stories and nonfiction. His novels included The Time Machine (1895), The Island of Doctor Moreau (1896), The Invisible Man (1897) and The War of the Worlds (1898). He died in London.
More by H. G. Wells
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