Sweet Dreams (Valancourt 20th Century Classics)

‘A man sits in his car at the traffic lights, waiting for them to go green…’ Heaven, the Book of Revelation tells us, is a city of pure gold, 1,500 miles high, and decorated in sapphire, amethyst, and emerald. According to the Koran, it is peopled with immortal youths and bashful virgins, and there are jeweled couches on which to recline and enjoy food and drink. But wouldn’t most of us feel a little out of our element in such a place? What about a Heaven for ordinary, modern people?

Howard Baker is waiting at a traffic light when suddenly he finds himself in a strange and wondrous city where he can fly, speak any language, and even design the Matterhorn. As we accompany him on his tour of Heaven, we discover a place with limitless possibilities for leisure and enjoyment but one which also presents moral and intellectual challenges and possibilities for personal growth - the perfect heaven for a decent, respectable, professional man like Howard Baker …

Long regarded as a classic in Great Britain, Michael Frayn’s brilliantly funny fantasy Sweet Dreams (1973) returns to print in the U.S. for the first time in decades in this edition, which features a new introduction by the author.

Frayn is an impeccable writer … his novel is a kind of Candide - a vividly contemporary Candide - full of the most serious high comedy and the most enormous belly laughs. - New Yorker

Frayn has a most unusual talent. His books seem so deceptively simple, but they linger in the mind for years, and can be re-read with the greatest pleasure. Sweet Dreams is no exception. - Margaret Drabble, New York Times Book Review

May go down in history as one of England’s special contributions to the twentieth century. - Times Literary Supplement