Before I Go to Sleep

Christine wakes in a strange bed beside a man she does not recognise. In the bathroom she finds a photograph of him taped to the mirror, and beneath it the words ‘Your husband’.

Each day, Christine wakes knowing nothing of her life. Each night, her mind erases the day. But before she goes to sleep, she will recover fragments from her past, flashbacks to the accident that damaged her, and then—mercifully—she will forget.

Chilling, exquisitely crafted and compulsively readable, S. J. Watson’s debut novel Before I Go to Sleep is a psychological thriller of the highest order. It asks primary questions. Are there things best not remembered? Who are we if we do not know our own history? How do we love without memory?

Praise for Before I Go to Sleep:

An exceptional thriller. It left my nerves jangling for hours after I finished the last page.
— Dennis Lehane

The best debut novel I have ever read.
— Tess Gerritsen

A deft, perceptive exploration of a fascinating neurological condition, and a cracking good thriller.
— Lionel Shriver

Thrillers seldom come much better than this.
— Joanne Harris

About the Author

S. J. Watson was born in the Midlands, lives in London and worked in the UK National Health Service for a number of years. In 2008 Watson was accepted into the first Faber Academy ‘Writing a Novel’ Course, a program that covers all aspects of the novel-writing process. Before I Go to Sleep is the result.

Now sold in over 30 languages around the world, Before I Go to Sleep has also been acquired for film by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, with Rowan Joffe to direct. Filming is scheduled to begin in 2011.