We must talk, Alice Black, about this world of modern things.This buzzing world.' Alice is in Paris to write.She is entranced by the aesthetics of technology and, in every aeroplane flight, every Xerox machine, every neon sign, sees the poetry of modernity.Mr Sakamoto, a survivor of the atomic bomb in Nagasaki, is an expert on Alexander Graham Bell.Like Alice, he is culturally and geographically displaced in France, and he has sad stories of yesterday to tell.The pair forge an unlikely friendship as Mr Sakamoto regales Alice with stories of twentieth-century invention.His own knowledge begins to feed into her book, and these two solitary beings become a mutual support for each other a long way from home. Set in Paris, Perth and Nagasaki this novel from prize-winning author Gail Jones is distinguished in its honesty and intelligence.From the boundlessness of space walking to the frustrating constrictions of one person's daily existence, Dreams of Speaking paints with grace and skill the experience of needing to belong despite wanting to be alone.
