The Capital of Dreams

Heather O'Neill

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Hardback

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English

Collins
07 January 2025

Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945); Myth & legend told as fiction; Fiction: special features

""The Capital of Dreams is not so much a novel to read but one to live (and dream) in. A dark, wistfully comic fable that's as imaginative as it is poignant. An entire world that only Heather O'Neill could create.""--Iain Reid, bestselling author of We Spread and Foe

From the hugely acclaimed author beloved by literary lights, including Emily St. John Mandel, Kelly Link, and Mona Awad, a dark dystopian fairytale about an idyllic country ravaged by war--and a girl torn between safety and loyalty.

Sofia Bottom lives in Elysia, a small country forgotten by Europe. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and faeries who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. From the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, no artist is as revered as Sofia's brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can fourteen-year-old Sofia, with her tin ear and enduring love of ancient myths, ever hope to win her mother's love?

When the country's greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, Clara turns to her daughter to smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But when the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, Sofia is forced to run for her life and loses her mother's most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors, and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and her own survival.

In this stunning novel set in an imaginative world yet reflective of our own times, Heather O'Neill delivers a vivid, breathtaking dark fairytale of life, death, and betrayal.

By: Heather O'Neill
Imprint: Collins
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
Weight: 646g
ISBN: 9780063437333
ISBN 10: 0063437333
Pages: 368
Publication Date: 07 January 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Heather O'Neill is a novelist, short-story writer and essayist. Her work includes When We Lost Our Heads, a #1 national bestseller and a finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal, The Lonely Hearts Hotel, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women's Prize for Fiction and CBC's Canada Reads, and Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels, which were shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O'Neill has also won CBC's Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. The Capital of Dreams is her most recent novel. Born and raised in Montreal, O'Neill lives there today.

Reviews for The Capital of Dreams

""The Capital of Dreams is not so much a novel to read but one to live (and dream) in. A dark, wistfully comic fable that's as imaginative as it is poignant. An entire world that only Heather O'Neill could create."" -- Iain Reid, bestselling author of We Spread and Foe ""Uncommonly poetic, nuanced and insightful, The Capital of Dreams is a masterpiece of the tangled threads and beating hearts that make us both ordinarily human and extraordinarily magical. I wish every girl could replace her mirror with pages of O'Neill's work, to see herself as a fierce and lusty creature well-placed to weave new worlds. The Capital of Dreams will make you grateful you wandered up a dark path and tumbled down a rabbit hole."" -- Cherie Dimaline, bestselling author of Empire of Wild and VenCo ""Heather O'Neill's The Capital of Dreams is a feminist adventure with all of the darkness of a war novel, the charm of a fairy tale, and the heart of a coming of age story. O'Neill's crystal-clear, aphoristic prose reveals complex themes about freedom, desire, and destiny. I underlined passages with one hand and turned pages with the other, rapt right through the stunning final twist."" -- Maria Adelmann, author of How to Be Eaten ""A refined but dark fairy tale . . . . A harrowing and all too timely account."" -- The Literary Review of Canada ""Magical and brutal, haunting and searing . . . . Against the harsh backdrop of war, O'Neill elegantly tackles intimate, complex questions about maternal devotion, freedom, individuality, creativity, and sexuality."" -- The Quill and Quire (starred review)