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Dreamers of the Day (Paperback)

by Mary Doria Russell (Author)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Price: £12.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
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Product details

  • Paperback: 272 pages
  • Publisher: Doubleday & Co Inc. (10 Mar 2008)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0385614543
  • ISBN-13: 978-0385614542
  • Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 391,630 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category:

    #6 in  Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > R > Russell, Mary Doria

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Product Description

Product Description

"All men dream, but not equally," wrote Lawrence of Arabia. "Those who dream at night awaken to find it vanity, but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men..." Reeling from the twin tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, diffident, 40-year-old teacher, Agnes Shanklin has come into a modest inheritance; enough to allow her to take the trip of a lifetime to Egypt and the Holy Land. But her arrival in Cairo coincides with an event that will change history. For it is 1921, and the Cairo Peace Conference will preside over nothing less than the creation of the modern Middle East. Neither a pawn nor a participant, Agnes becomes a welcome sounding board for the historic players - including Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Lady Gertrude Bell - poised to invent the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and so decide the fate of the Arab world. It also makes her unexpectedly attractive to the charismatic German spy, Karl Weilbacher.As Agnes observes the tumult and tensions of nation-building, she is drawn more and more deeply into geopolitical intrigue and towards a personal awakening. Both enlightening and entertaining, this compelling, passionately felt novel illuminates both the rich history of the Middle East and what lies behind today's headlines.


From the Back Cover

‘I am sure of this much: my little story has become your history. You won’t really understand your times until you understand mine…’

Reeling from the aftermath of the twin tragedies of the Great War and the influenza epidemic, diffident schoolteacher Agnes Shanklin has taken the trip of a lifetime: to Egypt and the Holy Land.

But her arrival at Cairo’s Semiramis Hotel coincides with an event that will change history. For the year is 1921 and the Cairo Peace Conference is about to preside over nothing less than the creation of the modern Middle East.

At first Agnes becomes a welcome sounding board for the historic players – Churchill, T. E. Lawrence and Lady Gertrude Bell among them – poised to invent the nations of Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan and so decide the fate of the Arab world. Yet as tumultuous days pass, she attracts the attention of a charismatic German spy and is inexorably drawn into the duplicitous, dangerous world of geopolitical intrigue...

Compelling and passionately felt, this remarkable novel casts brilliant and perceptive light on what lies behind so many of today’s headlines.
--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Dreamers of the Day
48% buy the item featured on this page:
Dreamers of the Day 2.8 out of 5 stars (5)
£12.99
The Sparrow
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The Sparrow 4.1 out of 5 stars (73)
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A Thread Of Grace
16% buy
A Thread Of Grace 4.7 out of 5 stars (3)
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Children of God
15% buy
Children of God 4.6 out of 5 stars (10)
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Customer Reviews

5 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (5 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars a disappointment, 9 Oct 2008
By A. Mary Lord "marylord" (Stockport, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
Having read and really enjoyed the author's previous three books (A Thread of Grace, The Sparrow and The Children of God), I was eager to dive into this one. But what a disappointment! "Dreamers ..." seems to have been written by another person. I thought I was going to experience a sensitive handling of complex Middle Eastern political history but there is no depth in this story: a 1920s American spinster takes off on a romantic trip to Egypt with her silly dachshund, whose exploits are described in detail, including its frequent crapping in inconvenient places. The woman gets entangled in a pseudo love affair with a married German spy, but doesn't care and enjoys it anyway. It's like a story out of "Grazia"!. The book reads like a superficial travelogue and the parts dealing with real historical figures like T.E. Lawrence and Winston Churchill are unbelievably bad: Churchill is a caricature, an objectional imperialist buffoon, while T.E. Lawrence, though treated sympathetically, makes little or no impression on the reader. I feel that the whole point in the book for the author was the "sermon" at the end, where she tells the reader what he/she should think about the Middle East and War in general. Come on Mary Doria Russel! What has happened to you!
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars A Vivid Trip Back in Time, 4 Sep 2009
By Patrick Shepherd "hyperpat" (San Jose, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Dreamers of the Day (Paperback)
In her prior books, Russell has clearly shown that she knows how to delineate very real characters. With this book of historical fiction, centered around the events of 1918-1921, this attribute shows just as clearly, with a fine portrait of Agnes Shanklin, her protagonist, but perhaps even more significantly, her pictures of historical luminaries such as T. E. Lawrence and Winston Churchill.

Agnes has quite an inferiority complex engendered by her mother's constant criticism, a lack of self confidence about her looks and her abilities. The first section of this book, details her upbringing and shows just who she is, a living, breathing person. Almost as a sidelight to this exemplary characterization, this section informs the reader of effects of the Great Influenza pandemic of 1918-9 and is a great depiction of the mores, customs, and daily life of that time, making some great commentary on just why that way of life disappeared so suddenly, to be replaced by the `roaring twenties'. But this first section of the book is merely an introduction, for when the flu kills off everyone else in her family, leaving Agnes the sole inheritor of various estates, she decides to take a trip to Egypt and the Holy Land, inspired by her late sister's forays in this area of the world.

The second section is the heart of this novel, as Agnes arrives in Egypt and through some fortuitous circumstances becomes a distant part of the group of people present at time in Cairo, from Churchill and Lawrence to Lady Gertrude Bell, who would eventually determine the political landscape of the middle east for many years to come, and the effects of which are still being felt today. It is a little bit unbelievable that such a relatively `minor' person such as Agnes would become part of this group (such things are always a problem when trying to insert a fictional character into a historical setting), but Russell does a good and somewhat humorous job of setting this up, and it must be remembered that the European `community' in Cairo at this time was quite small and insular. Once you accept that Agnes has been `adopted' by these luminaries, the rest follows quite logically, and this is where this book shines. Russell's depiction of the sights, sounds, smells, climate, and history of this region are remarkable, even if some of the history takes the form of essays - these blocks of expository material fit very well with the rest of the story, and give the reader a lot of context for current events.

Right alongside this travelogue is her depiction of the people surrounding her. T. E. Lawrence comes across as a far more complicated man than the character shown in the Lawrence of Arabia movie (although Peter O'Toole's finely nuanced depiction did much to hint at the depths of the man), and the Churchill shown here is not the famous Prime Minister of WWII fame, but rather the fairly lowly government functionary still trying to live down the debacle of Gallipoli. At the same time as this Cairo peace conference was making its way to becoming history, Agnes herself blossoms, becoming romantically involved with a local German, and finding that her thoughts, opinions, and actions are important, that she can be more than just a mouse.

The final section, which details some of Agnes' life after returning to America, is not as strong as the rest of the book, as it is told from a metaphysical viewpoint that doesn't quite jibe with the tone or feeling of the rest of the book, with a strong `message' component that is probably not necessary - Russell has already gotten this message across in the earlier sections, and much more effectively by `showing' rather than `telling'.

This book was clearly well and heavily researched, bringing to life a period of history that few Americans have any knowledge of, even though the events depicted here have a strong influence on our current involvement in the region. Russell provides a decent bibliography of her sources, a great aid for anyone wishing to find out more about this time and place.

An excellent book in many ways, perhaps not quite as strong as her The Sparrow, but definitely worth reading.

---Reviewed by Patrick Shepherd (hyperpat)
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars What a moumental let down, 25 Jun 2009
By Mr. Geoffrey Noble (Belfast, Northern Ireland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Dreamers of the Day (Paperback)
The science fiction books were as good as I have read in that genre. Thread of Grace has me crying in empathy with the characters so I looked forward to this with much expectation.

What an unbelievable let down. A very bland story that does not engage you at all and the ending is self serving nonsense. Doesn't work as a novel, doesn't work as a window on history and most certaintly doesn't work as philosophy. To be honest little more than garbage - avoid
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book With Silly Ending (Ignore Ending; Enjoy Book)
I enjoyed this book muchly, although I could have done without the condescending asides and the mini-history lessons, and the ending is Just Plain Daft.
Published 5 months ago by Ms. D. R. Moorhouse

3.0 out of 5 stars Dreams and mirages
Dreamers of the Day by Mary Doria Russell is a romantic novel which is set in Egypt and Palestine during the important historical period at the end of the First World War when the... Read more
Published 8 months ago by J. Scott-mandeville

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