Charles Johnson was the winner of the 1990 National Book Award for his novel "Middle Passage".

Set against the racial turbulence of the Civil Rights Era, Dreamer is the first work of fiction to explore the life of Martin Luther King Jr - political visionary, human rights activist, preacher, scholar and martyr.

Johnson's brilliantly realised historical novel deftly handles its material, weaving together a subtle and beautiful novel of immense power and importance. Dreamer is a multi-layered masterpiece.

"What unites Dreamer's diverse concerns - biography, politics, sociology, ethics - is its passionate desire to celebrate black history and to vindicate King - it is powerful as a moral tribute" - * The Sunday Times *

"Like a skiff exploring history's more hidden currents, Johnson's poetic language drifts with care over the moiling currents of King's intellect, leaving in its wake a wonderful, prismatic novel, exhorting and testifying, but never preaching" - * The Guardian *

"His fiction transcends the immediate concerns of race and colour, and will find its place in the great body of literature produced by America's humanitarian tradition" - * Literary Review *