Sleep, Pale Sister is a hypnotically atmospheric story set in nineteenth-century London, crafted by the bestselling author Joanne Harris. This gothic tour-de-force recalls the powerfully dark sensibility of her novel Holy Fools.

When puritanical artist Henry Chester sees the delicate child beauty Effie, he makes her his favorite model and, before long, his bride. But Henry, volatile and repressed, is in love with an ideal. The passive, docile, and asexual woman he projects onto Effie is far from the woman she really is.

As Effie begins to discover the murderous depths of Henry's hypocrisy, her latent passion will rise to the surface. Sleep, Pale Sister combines the ethereal beauty of a Pre-Raphaelite painting with a chilling high gothic tale, showcasing Harris's brimming cornucopia of talents.

A chance meeting on the Fijian island of Taveuni triggers a fascinating and mysterious novel that intertwines the stories of John Spooke, an English author grieving for his dead wife; Frank Andersen, a Norwegian evolutionary biologist estranged from his wife Vera; and an enigmatic Spanish couple, Ana and Jose, absorbed in their love for each other.

Why does Ana bear such a close resemblance to the model for Goya's famous Maja paintings? What is the significance of the Joker as he steps out of his pack of cards?

As the action moves from Fiji to Spain, from the present to the past, unfolding further stories within the stories, the novel reveals an astonishing richness and complexity. As bold and imaginative in its sweep as Sophie's World, it shows again that Jostein Gaarder's unique and special gift is to make us wonder at the awe-inspiring mystery of the universe.