LISTEN TO EXTRACTS FROM THE BOOK
The Glass Books Audio Previews are also available in the
Official Penguin Podcast or click on the links below.
Penguin Podcast - The Glass Books: Part 1
Penguin Podcast - The Glass Books: Part 2
Penguin Podcast - The Glass Books: Part 3
Miss Temple: 'Miss Temple looked down from the veranda of the Shipping House, an untouched glass of lemon squash on the table and the Shipping Master himself, Mr. Pauncelote - a Frenchman - hovering uncared-for behind her left shoulder.'
Cardinal Chang: 'Cardinal Chang instructed the coachman to stop on the near side of Worthing Circle, for he did not especially care to be seen climbing out.'
Doctor Svenson: 'It was not often Doctor Svenson drank champagne, and he wished the occasion was one he could enjoy.'
Contessa: 'The Contessa di Lacquer-Sforza leaned toward the thickly painted canvas and smiled, appreciating both the mockery of the subject matter - the martyrdom of St. Veronika at the hands of barbarians - and the skill of execution, so that even she felt a shiver of delight at the truly wicked ecstasy lighting up the victim's face.'
Xonck: 'Francis Xonck nipped the tip of a black tight wrapped cheroot with his teeth and spat the bit of tobacco into the tall, slick grass that lined the road to Tarr Manor.'
Comte: 'The Comte d'Orkancz took a moment to breathe in the bouquet of the port before taking a sip, nodding with simple, frank satisfaction - the '39 Harker-Bornarth was not the '37, but he was, after all, in a brothel - at the woman across the table, Madame Madelaine Kraft, whose brothel it was.'
THE GLASS BOOKS OF THE DREAM EATERS
The Glass Books Of The Dream Eaters is an utterly compulsive gothic adventure story, set in a fictitious Victorian city, and featuring a host of wicked and outlandish characters, including Miss Celestial Temple, a feisty heiress; Cardinal Chang, a deadly assassin, and Dr Svenson, guardian to a louche and syphilitic prince.
The cliff-hanger chapter endings of The Glass Books are reminiscent of the great adventure novels of Wilkie Collins and Robert Louis Stevenson, and led Penguin to the decision to revive the lost art of the weekly serial. Viking will offer the novel in weekly instalments pre-publication to a strictly limited number of subscribers. Purchase will be solely via this website. The instalments, in a beautifully designed and collectible magazine format, will be sent to subscribers on a weekly basis.
The Victorian heyday of the serial saw 100,000 people following the fate of Little Nell in Dickens' The Old Curiosity Shop, and instalments of Great Expectations outsold The Times newspaper. We hope that publishing this remarkable book in a time-honoured way will lead twenty-first century readers to follow the exploits of Miss Temple and her allies as breathlessly as Dickens' Victorian fans did his novels.