(from dustjacket blurb)
A bravura first novel, written with the panache and promise which characterized Peter Ackroyd's The Great Fire of London.

Daniel Fowler is an English university lecturer whose expertise in classic and modern American literature is being tapped to the full... But recently he has been hounded by a curious illness: at night he has extraordinarily potent dreams, dreams which recur at any moment during the day. Agonizingly, Fowler is experiencing another life, which is ruining his ability to work and also harming the delicate family balance he has hitherto maintained...

Interspersing the novel with brilliant and memorable classroom scenes, and spicing it with a unique form of literary criticism, Robert Grossmith has fashioned a magnificent tour de force, blending elements of psychoanalysis with literary conceits. The Empire of Lights is as startling as it is convincing, heralding the major debut of an extremely talented young writer.