Publication Date: January 7, 2025
“The Capital of Dreams is not so much a novel to read but one to live (and dream) in. A dark, wistfully comic fable that’s as imaginative as it is poignant. An entire world that only Heather O’Neill could create.”—Iain Reid, bestselling author of We Spread and Foe
From the hugely acclaimed author beloved by literary lights, including Emily St. John Mandel, Kelly Link, and Mona Awad, a dark dystopian fairytale about an idyllic country ravaged by war—and a girl torn between safety and loyalty.
Sofia Bottom lives in Elysia, a small country forgotten by Europe. But inside its borders, the old myths of trees that come alive and faeries who live among their roots have given way to an explosion of the arts and the consolations of philosophy. From the clarinetists to the cabaret singers, no artist is as revered as Sofia’s brilliant mother, the writer Clara Bottom. How can fourteen-year-old Sofia, with her tin ear and enduring love of ancient myths, ever hope to win her mother’s love?
When the country’s greatest enemy invades, and the Capital is under threat, Clara turns to her daughter to smuggle her new manuscript to safety on the last train evacuating children from the city. But when the train draws to a suspicious halt in the middle of a forest, Sofia is forced to run for her life and loses her mother’s most prized possession. Frightened and alone in a country at war, Sofia must find a way to reclaim what she has lost. On an epic journey through woods and razed towns, colliding with soldiers, survivors, and other lost children, Sofia must make the choice between kindness and her own survival.
In this stunning novel set in an imaginative world yet reflective of our own times, Heather O’Neill delivers a vivid, breathtaking dark fairytale of life, death, and betrayal.
A young girl living in a fictional European country ravaged by war undergoes multiple challenges that require her to make hard choices.
Author Heather O’Neill creates a dystopian fairytale that features elements seemingly pulled from history in The Capital of Dreams. When Elysia is invaded and its capital in jeopardy, Sofia is sent away with her mother’s manuscript for safekeeping.
Trouble arises when soldiers stop the train, which calls to mind the Nazis. However, Sofia manages to escape and begins a journey of her own. The appearance of a talking goose adds an interesting twist.
Sofia’s character, while at times a bit silly, reflects a young girl desperate for her mother’s love and attention. That’s why delivering the manuscript to the outside world is so important. And when that task is interrupted, she must strategically identify those who would betray her.
The Capital of Dreams will thrill readers who enjoy a bit of darkness with their dystopian fairytales.
HEATHER O’NEILL is a novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. Her most recent novel is The Capital of Dreams. Her previous works include When We Lost Our Heads, which was a #1 national bestseller and a finalist for the Grand Prix du Livre de Montréal; The Lonely Hearts Hotel, which won the Paragraphe Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction and was longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction and CBC’s Canada Reads; and Lullabies for Little Criminals, The Girl Who Was Saturday Night, and Daydreams of Angels, which were shortlisted for the Governor General’s Literary Award for Fiction, the Orange Prize for Fiction, and the Scotiabank Giller Prize two years in a row. O’Neill has also won CBC’s Canada Reads and the Danuta Gleed Award. Born and raised in Montreal, she lives there today.
