Overnight - by Dan Richards (Hardcover)

About the Book

"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"--

Book Synopsis

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.

Review Quotes

'A series of personal journeys that delve into the heart of darkness -- into the night and what it means for those who spend their working lives in it: the bakers, drivers, fishers, and couriers, the new mothers and the health workers -- the unseen hands and often unheard voices that make up the night world or the worlds of night and the early morning. Dan is a subtle, self-effacing interlocutor and companion on these journeys, who conveys the stories of these labourers with sympathy and a gentle kind of inquisitiveness'--DIARMUID HESTER

'Overnight is a sort of extended thank-you note to the people who keep the world ticking over while the rest of us sleep . . . Richards is an immensely likeable and generous-spirited narrator'--Times Literary Supplement

'Overnight is an immersive hybrid of investigative journalism, personal memoir and what I would tentatively suggest is nocturnal psychogeography. [ . . . ] A well-intentioned, honest and compassionate book, it can hardly fail to affect anyone who cares enough to read it . . . which I urge you to do'--Andy Childs "Caught By The River"

'Richards combines exquisitely poetic ruminations with man-on-the-street reporting . . . readers will be engrossed'-- "Publisher's Weekly"

'A paean of gratitude to every form of labour in the wee small hours, packed with enough fun facts for an entire pub quiz . . . Curiosity and boundless enthusiasm are what the reader is paying for here. It's the author's infectious sincerity that really makes Overnight work'-- "Spectator"

'An insight into the uncelebrated dedication and professionalism of those whose routine nightwork oils the cogs of the daytime machinery'-- "Buzz Magazine"

'By the book's end, night has grown to seem vibrant and companionable'-- "Observer"

'Funny and moving and generously various in its voices - a journey after dark in two senses'--ROBERT MACFARLANE

'A pensive new book . . . Richards' prose reaches poetic heights . . . In Richards' enthusiastic reporting the night feels a little less lonely; glamorous, even'-- "Idler"

'[Richards'] engaging narrative style is the book's greatest strength. Each story, from tales of stormy rescues at sea to quiet hours spent watching the night sky for bats, is captivating. . . Overnight offers a fascinating glimpse into the world after dark'-- "Geographical"

'Creatures of the night rejoice - this is the book we've been waiting for! A truly addictive read'--KEVIN BARRY

'This is curling up by a fire with a hot drink on a dark night in book form. While the firelight flickers, a master storyteller spins heart-warming human tales, leavened with wit and moments of genuinely great poetic writing. Generous, warm, evocative, poetic, romantic and yet also gloriously funny and down to earth'--PATRICK BARKHAM

'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

'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

"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

'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

'Savour this. A night-time light shine on the dark hours. From the mail train to nurses on emergency wards; shipping container shifters and late night radio's voices, this rich and enriching book is a journey through the shadow worlds of the wee hours and those that live there as most of us sleep. As such, it is often a journey into the past also: the movement and mechanisms of old that still run and keep this country running. Brilliantly told in Richards' distinct, witty and often disarmingly moving style, it will stay with you, like a dream'--ROB COWEN

"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, 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

"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

"The height of crafted eloquence"--SAMANTHA HARVEY

"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

"A revelatory journey into the teeming life of the night. Moving, engrossing, essential"--KATHERINE MAY

"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)

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