Dreams of Speaking

by Gail Jones

We must talk, Alice Black, about this world of modern things.This buzzing world.’

Alice is entranced by the aesthetics of technology and, in every aeroplane flight, every Xerox machine, every neon sign, sees the poetry of modernity. Mr Sakamoto, a survivor of the atomic bomb, is an expert on Alexander Graham Bell. The pair forge an unlikely friendship as Mr Sakamoto regales Alice with stories of twentieth-century invention. His own knowledge begins to inform her writing, and these two solitary beings become a mutual support for each other a long way from home.

This novel from Man Booker longlisted author Gail Jones is distinguished by its honesty and intelligence. From the boundlessness of space walking to the frustrating constrictions of one person’s daily existence, Dreams of Speaking paints with grace and skill the experience of needing to belong despite wanting to be alone.

(From Publisher)

GAIL JONES teaches literature, cinema and cultural studies at the University of Western Australia. She is the author of Dreams of Speaking (Harvill/Vintage) for which she was longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2006. One previous novel Sixty Lights has been published in the UK for which she was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2004.