Sleep Donation

An uncanny novella imagining a deadly epidemic of insomnia, by the Pulitzer shortlisted writer of Swamplandia!

'Sleep Donation has a dreamlike beauty while remaining ominous and off-kilter. Parts of it gave me nightmares' Stephen King

An epidemic of insomnia has left America crippled with exhaustion.

Thankfully the Slumber Corps agency provides a lifeline, transfusing sleep to sufferers from healthy volunteers. Recruitment manager Trish Edgewater, whose sister Dori was one of the first victims of the disaster, has spent the last seven years enlisting new donors. But when she meets the mysterious Donor Y and Baby A – whose sleep can be universally accepted – her faith in the organisation and in her own motives begins to unravel.

Fully illustrated and featuring a brand-new 'Nightmare Appendix', this uncanny and prescient novella from the bestselling author of Swamplandia! will haunt your sleepless nights.

Praise for Sleep Donation:

‘Russell's ability to balance the quirky and the absurd with psychological acumen…turns this unbelievable world into something more than dreamlike’ NPR

‘Russell writes with such assurance and speed that she puts the reader under a spell for the duration of her story’ New York Times

‘Russell has a keen sense of dramatic timing and an even sharper ability to turn an internal state into its own weather system’ Boston Globe