Description

There is something special about the night. For many, just the idea of it conjures thoughts of starlit skies, romance, refuge, of being tucked up in bed. For some, the night means fear, vulnerability, danger, sleeplessness. At night things go bump, monsters hide under beds, owls take wing and foxes prowl. For others still, nightfall signals the start of work.

Overnight is a celebration of all things nocturnal, of those who labour while the rest of us sleep: the bakers, health workers, sailors, couriers, broadcasters, drivers, fishers, the emergency services and more. And it is also a hymn to nighttime wildlife, dreams and art. We’ll hang out with bats and look at the stars. We’ll learn what Moomintroll has to teach us. We’ll travel by ship, train, racing car and foot. There will be more than one surprise along the way.

Through a series of personal journeys Dan Richards explores what the night means to a fascinating array of people, taking us from night terrors to the glow of watching the dawn break on the summer solstice. Overnight will change the way you think about the hours after dark.

Publisher Review

The height of crafted eloquence — SAMANTHA HARVEY A revelatory journey into the teeming life of the night. Moving, engrossing, essential — KATHERINE MAY I loved Overnight. It is both gripping and consoling, and full of an intelligent, querying tenderness for its subjects. I was never sure whether I’d be moved to laughter or tears: often, it was both, and in the end I was sad to leave Richards’ humane and witty company — SARAH PERRY In Overnight, Dan Richards introduces us to the shadowy, starlit world of postal workers, night nurses, twenty-four-hour industry, late night radio, search and rescue. We meet desperate rough sleepers, racing demons, new mothers . . . and what shines through most clearly is the humour and the pathos, the remarkable diversity in what it means to live, to work, to love. A lucid dream of a book, one that will keep you up late reading — CAL FLYN Dan Richards’ writing spans great gulfs of emotion and experience. He is witty and profound and his curiosity and empathy know no bounds. He takes us deep into the night and brings it utterly alive. He fills that space in our dreams with the reality – of what goes on when the sun goes down — PHILIP HOARE In Overnight, Richards casts the night and its many activities anew to create a book offering a rare type of solace. I’ve been almost pathologically afraid of the dark my entire life, but Overnight is a kaleidoscopic book, illuminating at every turn dark corners of both the night and our collective minds, until the idea of darkness became appealing, even to me — ALI MILLAR I found Overnight to be a moving and sympathetic mix of the personal and the observational. Dan Richards captures that out-of-time, dislocated, slightly surreal quality that wakeful overnight hours possess, whatever the cause. By turns emotionally raw, fascinating and even a little spooky — KASSIA ST CLAIR Overnight takes us to hidden worlds that lie so far from most of our daily lives, but exist in such proximity to them. Dan Richards is an excellent guide, and this is a hugely fascinating, funny and moving book — CHRIS POWER Humane, thoughtful and forensically observant, Richards makes the night his own, as he interrogates the pulse and rhythm of our mirror world, the one most of us barely notice — JON GRIMWOOD Overnight is a glorious and generous book. Dan Richards’ journey into night is heart-warming, enriching and inspiring. How can you be afraid of the dark with this book in your life, inside these pages is the hope before first light — SALENA GODDEN