Sleepless by Annabel Abbs is an interesting book about her own experiences of insomnia and that of various historical women artists and writers.

For me, "Sleepless" was one of the rare non-fiction books stemming from author's lived experience that actually resulted in an interesting, as well as universal account on lack of sleep. Loss of her father caused Annabel Abbs to lose her ability to sleep as well, which then inspired her to study stories of women for whom lack of sleep brought more inspiration than their waking hours.

What makes Abbs' book unique is focusing not on regaining the ability to sleep but embracing the sleeplessness, utilising it and befriending the dark hours. Alongside the stories of other women, the author recalls her journey, as well as the relationship with her late father, which makes "Sleepless" as intimate as hushed conversation had in the late, late hours.

I guess you could call this book the story of a "journey of discovery". In 2020 Annabel Abbs suffered bereavement. The days were busy but the nights were much harder. Her Sleeplessness led over time to her considering the aspect of her that she refers to as her Night Self. While she found it puzzling initially she also found it "soothed, intrigued, distracted, enticed and exhilarated" her. Her book actually had a pretty similar effect on me. In considering her Night Self, she finds that she is by no means the first woman to have found the dark very different to the light. While this book is unquestionably a journey for Annabel I would suggest that it can be a thought provoking and fascinating journey for the reader.

For me this book is very well structured. It leads you quietly and carefully through her discoveries she has and those of other women (frequently ignored/unsung or both) who took advantage of the darkness. It would certainly seem that aspects of us change with the dark. For some people, maybe particularly women, creativity in art, poetry and writing generally, scientific study differ between day and night. There are examples in this book of some of the physiological changes that take place. Equally there are studies regarding the psychological changes. I learned quite a bit about my body and its functions reading this.

I made far more notes on this book than many I have read. In practice fiction books that really engage me I tend to make few notes on - I am far too engrossed. The reverse tends to be true of the non-fiction ones - they can be so thought provoking. Despite that I do find this quite hard to review as there is just so much interesting content. This book manages to look at art, history, religion and philosophy, activity, medical research, astronomy and gender differences among other things. While the book is extremely wide ranging I also found the author and the book seemed deeply connected and to older aspects of this world. By this I mean a sense of being a self as part of far wider environment - that resonates well with me.

I could actually write about so many areas of this book that fascinated me. This review would be far too long if I went into all the aspects of this that I loved and so I would say that - if this interests you - you will get far more out of reading it for yourself. I will simply touch on the area that I was already somewhat familiar with. The author goes walking at night (among many other things) and suggests that her "night walks will endure" in the memory. I've walked quite extensively in the dark myself - they endure beyond many other things for me too.

The writing here is extremely accomplished to my mind. The book is well structured however the actual writing is vividly rich, often poetic. On a simply personal level reading this immediately made me think of at least two friends that I will almost certainly buy copies of this for. I guess one of my favourites non-fiction reads was Underland by Macfarlane. It spoke to me at a very deep level - this one has a similar feel as far as I am concerned. It is without question one of my favourite non-fiction reads. Immerse yourself in this, maybe discover something about your Night Self, it could soothe, intrigue and exhilarate you. I would so happily give this more than 5 stars!

Out for a run one morning just before Christmas, the author got a devastating phone call. Her father had suddenly and unexpectedly died. It hadn't been that long since her stepfather had died and she was supporting her mother through her grief. Now, faced with this terrible loss, she began to suffer from insomnia. What happened to her during her sleepless nights surprised her--she embraced and befriended what she calls her Night Self. She found creativity of a different sort during the nights she was awake and began to investigate how other artists, writers, poets, and other creatives experienced this. She delved into the science to learn what happens to our bodies and minds at night and discovered that female and male bodies respond somewhat differently. She pondered the gendered differences in how the dark is experienced, noting that for women, there is an element of fear involved, especially when outdoors and that men are 'more likely to exhibit ethically problematic behaviors than women' in the dark. (p 180). In the Prologue, she states, 'This book...is an attempt to remove some of the anxiety that now accompanies not sleeping, to understand why we don't always sleep, and to remind ourselves that women throughout the ages have suffered from periods of sleeplessness, and survived, even thrived.' (p. xi)

Does she succeed at her stated goal? In my opinion, she does indeed. The book is fascinating as well as superbly written. Abbs skillfully weaves together the fruits of her research across many fields with her own experiences. She evokes the mindscapes, skyscapes, and landscapes as she and others have experienced them in ways that made me feel these things, too. It's a testament to her talent as a writer that she can do this while at the same time explaining brain science, human biology, philosophy, and so many other facts and ideas. It's a highly informative , readable, very enjoyable book that I highly recommend.