Book description
'Striking...brilliantly done' The Times
An ember storm of a novel, this is Booker Prize-winning novelist Richard Flanagan at his most moving-and astonishing-best.
Anna's aged mother is dying - if her three children would just allow it. Forced by their pity to stay alive, she increasingly escapes through her hospital window…
Why read it?
1 author picked The Living Sea of Waking Dreams as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?
This novel is challenging in all the best ways. It took me three tries to get into it…but once I “got it” I was hooked. The story follows Anna and her (kind of awful) siblings as they try (and largely fail) to deal with each other and their elderly mother’s decline and impending death. As if this subject were not hot enough, the novel takes place against the backdrop of the climate crisis. This is an original, serious, and existentially charged read that definitely takes the fun out of family dysfunction. Yet amazingly, the darker and more abstract this book…
From Nancy's list on families you wish were yours or glad they're not.
If you love The Living Sea of Waking Dreams...
These Blue Mountains
A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.
German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…
Want books like The Living Sea of Waking Dreams?
Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like The Living Sea of Waking Dreams.
Share your top 3 reads of 2025!
And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.
1,367
readers submitted
so far, will you?
📚 If you like The Living Sea of Waking Dreams, you might also like...
The Swordsman of Venice
In Renaissance Venice, the deadliest weapon isn’t a blade… it’s a secret.
Angelo Mascari is a master swordsman whose greatest battle isn’t fought for crown or country, but for love. When treachery strikes and the Republic turns against him, Angelo is forced into a desperate flight that leads him across…
Price of Vengeance
Liam was orphaned at the age of two by a group of giant carnivorous insects called the chitin. Taken in by High Councilor Marcus and his wife, Lidia, Liam was raised with their older son, Randolf in New Olympia, the last remaining city on the planet Etrusci.
As an adult,…
