THE DREAMERS - Karen Thompson Walker

The Dreamers is Karen Thompson Walker's mesmerising second novel, set in an isolated college town in the hills of Southern California. One night a first-year student falls asleep and cannot be woken - not by her roommate, not by paramedics, not by doctors. When a second student falls asleep, and then a third, panic spreads from the college to the town. A young couple tries to protect their newborn as the quiet streets descend into chaos, while two sisters turn to each other for comfort as their survivalist father prepares for disaster. Written in luminous prose, The Dreamers is a startling and provocative exploration of the possibilities contained within a human life. Published by Simon and Schuster UK (Scribner), paperback, 320 pages.