The House of Sleep: The funny and moving novel about love and obsession from the award-winning author of Middle England

· Penguin UK
10 reviews
Ebook
352
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

The House of Sleep - Jonathan Coe's comic tale of love and obsession

Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling his obsession with movies; and the increasingly unstable Dr Gregory Dudden sees sleep as a life-shortening disease which must be eradicated. . .

A group of students sharing a house. They fall in and out of love, they drift apart. Yet a decade later they are drawn back together by a series of coincidences involving their obsession with sleep - and each other. . .

Winner of the 1998 Prix Médicis Étranger, The House of Sleep is an intensely moving and frequently hilarious novel about love, obsession and sleep.

'Moving, clever, pleasurable, smart...one of the best books of the year' Malcolm Bradbury, The Times

'There are bits that make you laugh out loud and others that make your heart ache' Guardian

'Fiercely clever, witty, wise, hopeful...a compellingly beautiful tale of love and loss' The Times Literary Supplement

Jonathan Coe's novels are filled with biting social commentary, moving and astute observations of life and hilarious set pieces that have made him one of the most popular writers of his generation. His titles, Bournville, Middle England (Winner of the Costa Novel Award) What a Carve Up! (winner of the 1995 John Llewellyn Rhys Prize), A Touch of Love, The Rotters' Club (winner of the Everyman Wodehouse prize), The Closed Circle, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, The House of Sleep (winner of the1998 Prix Médicis Étranger), and The Rain Before it Falls, are all available in Penguin paperback.

The House of Sleep - Jonathan Coe's comic tale of love and obsession Sarah is a narcoleptic who has dreams so vivid she mistakes them for real events; Robert has his life changed for ever by the misunderstandings arising from her condition; Terry, the insomniac, spends his wakeful nights fuelling...

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Ratings and reviews

10 reviews
Sophie van de Kerkhof
November 4, 2025
Technisch mooi in elkaar gezet boek dat wetenschap over slaap weet te integreren in een meeslepend verhaal. Erg interessant om te lezen.
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Kostas the
October 28, 2014
One of Coe's best! Maybe the best!
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hennie marais
November 24, 2014
An AMAZING story!!!!!!!! Loved it
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About the author

Jonathan Coe is the author of twelve novels, all published by Penguin, which include the highly acclaimed bestsellers What a Carve Up!, The House of Sleep,The Rotters' Club and Number 11.
Jonathan Coe is the author of twelve novels, all published by Penguin, which include the highly acclaimed bestsellers What a Carve Up!, The House of Sleep,The Rotters' Club and Number 11.

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