Corinna Leeder

I devoured this brilliant, unsettling book in two sittings over the Easter bank holiday weekend. Having long been a fan of the post apocalyptic story, I have enjoyed 'Station Eleven', 'Birdbox' and the like. I also relish the genre of 'alternative' history, such as Ben Elton's 'Time and Time again' and Robert Harris' own 'Fatherland'. 'The second sleep' is vivid and plausible, lulling us into the false idea that we are in 'The name of the rose' territory before having the young priest, Fairfax, make a shocking discovery in the house of a parish priest he's tasked with burying. How can it be that a priest in 1468 can come across relics left by 'the ancients' that include drinking straws, a plastic doll and a communication device bearing a logo known world-wide - an apple with a bite out of it? I genuinely went cold when I read that passage. If you like Robert Harris's books, you'll enjoy his elegant writing and his clarity of thought. And if you like the sensation of the hair going up on the back of your neck when the truth is revealed, you'll LOVE this. Extraordinary.