A Dream of Wessex
A Dream of Wessex is also known as The Perfect Lover (US edition).
The year is 1985. The Wessex project, a privately funded scientific
experiment, discover a method to transport the collective unconscious of some of England's most brilliant minds into an illusory and ideal
society. The object: to gather information vital to our survival on
earth.
But in the process, power, deception, and love join to jeopardize this
philanthropic program. Paul Mason makes Julia a slave to his love and
plots to control this sunny island utopia of swift hydrofoils, citrons
presses, and crescent beaches. David Harkman discovers a yellowing
scrap of newsprint that is a historical time bomb for the imagined
world. And Julia Stretton, escaping from her ruined life in the real
world, thrives in this magical place that, until the unexpected arrival
of a disastrous agent, seemed to be her "perfect lover."
As in John Fowles' The Magus, identities and appearance in A Dream of Wessex change and deceive against a background of intrigue at a
dizzying rate, making this novel a piercing examination of the human
psyche.
Christopher Priest
Christopher Priest was born in Cheshire, England. He began writing soon after leaving school and has been a full-time freelance writer since 1968.
He has published thirteen novels, four short story collections and a number of other books, including critical works, biographies, novelizations and children's non-fiction.
His novel The Separation won both the Arthur C. Clarke Award and the BSFA Award. In 1996 Priest won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Prestige. He has been nominated four times for the Hugo award. He has won several awards abroad, including the Kurd Lasswitz Award (Germany), the Eurocon Award (Yugoslavia), the Ditmar Award (Australia), and Le Grand Prix de L'Imaginaire (France). In 2001 he was awarded the Prix Utopia (France) for lifetime achievement.
More books by Christopher Priest
