News
- The New York Times Book Review calls The Law of Dreams "absorbing, unsparing and beautifully written . . . a masterly novel" (December 10, 2006).
- The Law of Dreams wins the 2006 Governor General's Literary Award for fiction
- "Feel This" a new short story from the author of The Law of Dreams.
- The Law of Dreams -- The movie
- La Legge dei Sogni is published in Italy by Einaudi
- La Loi des Rêves is published in France, March 2008
- De Droome Wet is published in the Netherlands February 2008
- Das Gesetz der Traüme is published in Germany in January 2008
- The Law of Dreams is Canadian Living's Online Book Club Pick for March 08
- November 5, 2007: The Law of Dreams nominated for the 2008 International Impac Literature Prize, the world's largest literary prize
- Bookninja (Fall 2007) -- a roundtable discussion of empathy in fiction, suggested by Catherine Bush and joined by four other prominent novelists: Peter Behrens, Barbara Gowdy, Sheila Heti and Lisa Moore
- From the Irish Independent (Dublin) Sunday, Aug. 11 2007: ". . . it is one of those rare books that comes along from time to time that makes you feel that you are in the presence of greatness: a gifted storyteller with a truly compelling story to tell . . . "
- Toronto, June 22, 2007, Peter Behrens' short story, The Smell of Smoke, wins a 2006 Canadian National Magazine Award.
- The Law of Dreams has been nominated for The Amazon.ca/Books in Canada First Novel Award, which recognizes the the best first novel in English by a citizen or resident of Canada. Previous winners include Michael Ondaatje (1976), Joy Kogawa (1981), Rohinton Mistry (1991) and Anne Michaels (1996).
Random House paperback coming out August 28, 2007- May 2007, Canongate publishes The Law of Dreams in Ireland and the UK
- May 7, 2007, The Law of Dreams is published in Australia
- Hear Peter Behrens reading from The Law of Dreams at Authors Aloud website
- The Law of Dreams takes the p. 69 test
The Washington Post
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Page B01, "Outlook" Section
"Harry Potter and the Death of Reading"
". . . My favorite [book of 2006] was 'The Law of Dreams,' a first novel by a 52-year-old writer named Peter Behrens. It's the story of an orphaned boy who doesn't know why he survived the evil force that killed his parents — and left him scarred. Set during the Irish potato famine of 1847, it's not a fantasy, and it's not for children, but there are plenty of monsters here, and Behrens writes in a style that's pure magic." — Ron Charles, Senior Editor of the Washington Post Book World
Book News
June 2008
"Getting it Right"
The National Book Critics Circle Awards: A Retrospective
". . . In 2007, for me these included books on the Beatles, Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine, a biography of baseball executive Branch Rickey and Peter Behrens’ novel, The Law of Dreams." — John Freeman
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
January 2008
". . . There are passages of idyllic beauty, and a strange hard poetry of language; for example when landscapes are described, or the consciousness of a lost boy longing for love and connection . . . Behrens upholds the tension all the way through this voluminous, voluptuous page-turner of a novel. . . . In Brigitte Walitzek he found a German translator to match his epic tone."
The Observer (London)
Sept 2, 2007
"How Did We Miss These?"
"We asked 50 celebrated writers to nominate their favourite brilliant but underrated novels . . .
"This hauntingly bloody and beautiful novel has been garlanded with praise and prizes in Behrens's native Canada . . . there's a euphoric uplift in its pages, a poetic energy in the style which completely bowled me over. Such a messy, delirious, risky, big-hearted book; such a treat " — Nicci Gerrard
Montreal Mirror
August 31, 2006
Feast of Famine
" . . . If the novel were judged solely on the language, precise and poetic in a way that cuts into the heart like a razor, no one could deny Behrens’ brilliance. But for those readers sometimes left a little cold by the technical virtuosity of lyrical Canadian novelists like Anne Michaels or Michael Ondaatje, it’s worth pointing out that Behrens can also spin a wild yarn. The Law of Dreams is a novel with as much craft as art, an adventure tale as epic and gripping as a modern Dickens . . ." — Juliet Waters
