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. For others still, nightfall signals the start of work. At night things go bump, monsters hide under beds, owls take wing and foxes prowl.

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 men and women of 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 about insomnia. 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.

About the Author

Dan Richards is the co-author of Holloway (with Robert Macfarlane and Stanley Donwood), and the author of The Beechwood Airship Interviews, Climbing Days, Outpost and Overnight. Only After Dark, a BBC Radio 4 series about the nocturnal world, was broadcast to acclaim in 2022. Dan has written for the Guardian, Economist, Esquire and Monocle.

@Dan_Zep

Reviews
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 Richard's 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
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
Full of empathy, insight and wit, Dan Richards shines a powerful light on the people of the night, highlighting how everyone has a valuable story to tell. In that, it is a kind of democracy of the night -- COLIN MACINTYRE (Mull Historical Society)
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
Praise for Dan Richards: 'There's a special magic in Richards' luminous descriptions of nature and place, but also in the stories he tells * * Guardian * *
Dan Richards is a wonderful storyteller, wise, wry and open-hearted, the perfect travelling companion -- MAX PORTER



Book Information
ISBN 9781838857509
Author Dan Richards
Format Hardback
Page Count 384
Imprint Canongate Books
Publisher Canongate Books