'Beautiful ... Incredibly moving' ANN PATCHETT

'Sun-saturated prose' GOOD HOUSEKEEPING

'A rich tale you can't put down' iNEWS

'Deeply satisfying ... beautifully written' POLLY SAMSON

A family secret. A new love. The chance to start again.

Margaret's childhood is one of Saturday morning pancakes and sunlit swimming pools behind white picket fences. Then, one fateful summer, everything changes. A line is crossed and the simple pleasures of girlhood slip away.

Twenty-five years later, Margaret is newly divorced with two young daughters of her own. She's starting over while discovering the pleasures of a new boyfriend. But, returning to the family home at her mother's beckoning, she finds herself swept up in the unspoken truth of that long ago summer. She must now reckon with what binds the past to the present, one generation to the next, and safety to the freedom we most desire.

A must-read novel of the summer in Sunday Times Style, Elle and Good Housekeeping.

'Jones takes her cues from writers like John Cheever, Richard Yates and Virginia Woolf' NEW YORK TIMES

'A moving, funny and searing look at childhood, family and marriage. I adored it' CHRIS WHITAKER, author of All the Colours of the Dark

'Shattering, but also witty, arch, probing and hopeful' PANDORA SYKES, in Sunday Times Style

'An unsettling narrative of family secrets and buried wounds' ELLE

'Thrillingly virtuosic - beguiling, unsettling and stylish' JESSICA STANLEY, author of Consider Yourself Kissed

'Beautiful ... incredibly moving' Ann Patchett

About the Author

Honor Jones is a senior editor at The Atlantic and formerly at the New York Times. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Reviews

Praise for Sleep:

'Exceptionally moving' New York Times Book Review

'My favourite read of 2025 so far ... Jones writes so clearly about what it feels like to have your voice muted for years, and the bravery it takes to finally claim it back ... a powerful read' Laura Jackson in Stylist

'A rich tale you can't put down' Emma Barnett, in iNews

'A compelling debut about motherhood, buried trauma and how we learn to set ourselves free' Pandora Sykes in Sunday Times Style

'An unsettling narrative of family secrets and buried wounds' Elle

'A melancholic, moving read that explores how we carry trauma within us, written in beautiful, sun-saturated prose' Good Housekeeping

'A masterpiece of carefully crafted perspective and tone ... hypnotic' Washington Post

'A haunting and beautiful novel about a desperate attempt to live in the present despite the tidal pull of the past' Ann Patchett, author of Tom Lake

'Beautiful, bruising, incisive and heartfelt ... I adored it' Chris Whitaker, author of All the Colours of the Dark

'Beautifully written and atmospheric, with both wit and piercing observations ... I will recommend Sleep far and wide' Polly Samson, author of A Theatre for Dreamers

'Sleep is thrillingly virtuosic - beguiling, unsettling and stylish' Jessica Stanley, author of Consider Yourself Kissed

'Sleep marks the arrival of an astonishing new voice in the world of literary fiction ... propulsive and funny and heartbreaking' J. Courtney Sullivan, author of The Cliffs

'A novel of quiet, devastating beauty ... I loved it' Abigail Dean, author of Girl A

'Beautiful, immersive, funny and sharply observed, Sleep shines with humanity ... A standout debut' Rosie Walsh, author of The Love of My Life

'A deep tragedy handled with exquisite prose and dark comedy' Charlotte Paradise, author of Overspill

'Utterly fresh, original and exhilarating' Xochitl Gonzalez, author of Olga Dies Dreaming

'An exceptional debut, flawlessly written' Margaret Meyer, author of The Witching Tide

Book Information
ISBN 9780008722937
Author Honor Jones
Format Paperback
Page Count 272
Imprint Fourth Estate Ltd
Publisher HarperCollins Publishers
Weight(grams) 180g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 20mm