Dreamers of the Day: A Novel

Having read the author's books The Sparrow and Children of God I certainly wasn't expecting this book. However, I wasn't disappointed just surprised. It tells the story of Agnes Shanklin a middle-aged American spinster in the 1920's who loses all her family in the flu epidemic after World War I. She decides to take a trip (with her dachshund) to Egypt and lands in...more

Having read the author's books The Sparrow and Children of God I certainly wasn't expecting this book. However, I wasn't disappointed just surprised. It tells the story of Agnes Shanklin a middle-aged American spinster in the 1920's who loses all her family in the flu epidemic after World War I. She decides to take a trip (with her dachshund) to Egypt and lands in the middle of the Cairo Peace conference which set the framework for the modern Middle East. She becomes friendly with such notables as Winston Churchill and T. E. Lawrence (Lawrence of Arabia). She also meets up with a German man with whom she has her first sexual encounter. This man is Jewish and a spy for the German government and also married. Although Agnes knows this she falls in love with him and shares much of the information she learns about the ongoing negotiations. The love story is really only a small part of the book. In fact it is T. E. Lawrence who really captivated my attention. And it was also very interesting to learn the origin of many of the problems which face the Middle East now. The ending of the book was an interesting twist and reminded me that Russell is, at heart, a science fiction writer.   hide