Published in 2024
7 hours and 53 minutes
Annabel Abbs-Streets is an English writer and novelist. She is an award-winning author of seven books, most recently Windswept: Walking the Paths of Trailblazing Women (voted a Top Ten 2021 Travel book) and 52 Ways to Walk (an Amazon bestseller). Her work has been translated into thirty languages. She is a Fellow of the Brown Foundation, writes regularly for a wide variety of media, and often appears on radio, TV, and podcasts. She lives in London and Sussex with her family.
What is this book about?
In the winter of 2020, Annabel Abbs experienced a series of bereavements. As she grieved, she kept busy by day, but at night sleep eluded her. And yet her sleeplessness led to a profound and unexpected discovery: her Night Self.
As the night transformed into a place of creativity and liberation, Annabel found she wasn’t alone. From the radical fifteenth-century philosopher Laura Cereta and subversive artist Louise Bourgeois, to Virginia Woolf and the activist Peace Pilgrim, women have long found sanctuary, inspiration and courage in darkness.
Drawing on the latest science, which shows we are more imaginative, open-minded and reflective at night, Annabel set out to discover the potential of her Night Self. Sleepless follows her journey, from midnight hikes to starlit swims, from Singapore, the brightest city on Earth, to the darkest corner of the Arctic Circle, and finally to that most elusive of places – sleep.
A moving, revelatory voyage into the dark, Sleepless invites us to feel less anxious about our sleep, and to embrace the possibilities of the night.
