Dreamers of the Day

Having read her other books, I had high expectations for quality. I was not disappointed. She does her research, and it is particularly interesting how politics of the day affect events today. It is also interesting to see how the "politics as usual" has been going on for a very long time. Entertaining book

Excellant background information of the 1920's. Learned a lot about historical figures in an interesting format. I really identified with the main character.

Mary Doria Russell brings us a historical novel that takes place during the momentous Cairo Peace Conference of 1920, a three-day event that will change the world as we know it today. Three individuals --- the young Winston Churchill, then a mid-level cabinet officer; world traveler Lady Gertrude Bell; and Colonel T. E. Lawrence --- will carve Mesopotamia into Iraq, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Israel following the defeat of Germany during the Great War, ironically called the "war to end all wars." The world was still staggering from the ravages of World War I and the Great Influenza Pandemic of 1918 that had cost millions of human lives. Agnes Shanklin, a single Ohio schoolteacher, had nursed her extended family through two waves of the deadly Spanish flu, only to lose them one by one. Still recovering from the effects of her own illness, Agnes settles her family affairs and with a modest inheritance decides to follow through on a suggestion by her late sister to visit Egypt and the Holy Land. Her sister, a missionary in Palestine, had written glowingly of good friend Neddy Lawrence and had urged Agnes to look him up if she ever got to the Middle East. Agnes signs on to a Cook's Tour and embarks on the long voyage with her faithful companion, a long-haired dachshund named Rosie, to trace the steps her late sister and family had followed. Upon her arrival in Cairo, Agnes is swept up in street rioting by waves of protestors against Churchill. She was booked into the same hotel as the convening dignitaries but is unceremoniously and noisily ejected because of Rosie. Colonel Lawrence, who recognizes her from her sister's description, comes to her rescue and escorts her to a suitable hotel across the Nile River. There she meets Karl Weilbacher, a charming German spy, also in Cairo for the conference. Observing that Lawrence has taken Agnes under his wing, Weilbacher attaches himself to her through the affections of her dog. Mary Doria Russell began her career as a paleontologist with a firm grasp of human relationships and theology, themes that run through her works of fiction. Her fans will remember the hauntingly beautiful story of THE SPARROW, her award-winning bestselling futuristic first novel. She wrote a sequel, CHILDREN OF GOD, and a third novel, A THREAD OF GRACE. Here, Russell weaves a story of world-altering politics and history as seen through the eyes of the naïve, sheltered 40-year-old spinster. DREAMERS OF THE DAY is at once a fascinating and romantic travelogue and a spiritually challenging journey of self-discovery, especially in Jerusalem where Agnes experiences the clash of cultures in the ancient city. --- Reviewed by Roz Shea

Mary Doria Russell's wonderful new novel "Dreamers of the Day" serves to remind us that much of what we rail against today such as lying politicians, "spin", jingoism, sloganism, manipulative advertising, fear of a flu pandemic and xenophobia, aren't new phenomenon at all. Yet we repeat the same mistakes. Ultimately this is an eloquent novel about our human addiction to war. Speaking from somewhere beyond the grave, our protagonist, Agnes Shanklin, a very plain spinster schoolmarm from Ohio, takes us through WWI, the Spanish Flu pandemic and finally to Egypt on the brink of the Cairo Conference where, somewhat arbitrarily, the Middle East was divvied up and which set into motion the history that we are now experiencing. Of course we have perfect hind-sight, but that makes Agnes' observations all the more interesting. And then there is romance...just the right amount for this sweeping story and completely within context and character of our delightful narrator. I've been a Russell fan since a friend urged me to read a novel she said was about "Jesuit priests who go to a distant planet"...and I thought to myself "is she KIDDING?" I agreed to give "The Sparrow" a try and then couldn't put it down and raced out to get the sequel before I was half-way done. Her novels get better and better, and though I tried to make this one last by slowing down...I couldn't. Now I'm sad because I have to wait for the next one which can't come soon enough for me.

I consider Russell's "The Sparrow" to be the finest SF novel, and perhaps the best first novel in any genre, of the last 15 years. Her next two books were also excellent. "Dreamers" is very different from any of the three, and defies easy categorization. But it has the same thought-provoking quality of content and consistently fine writing. This book also helps to grasp how the Middle East came to be such a mess in the 20th Century.