The idea of night conjures up as many different visions as there are stars in the sky. Romance, refuge, being safely tucked up in bed. Or fear, vulnerability, being tortured by sleeplessness.

This rip-roaring book powers its way through the darkest hours meeting the terrors of insomnia alongside the delights of a sleeping baby. Whizzing through the night, Dan Richards accompanies many different nightbirds on their journeys towards the gradual approach of dawn. We meet those whose work takes them out to emergencies as well as the others who keep the world ticking through the night.

Then there is the teeming world of nocturnal creatures, the magical uniqueness of the summer solstice and the stories of those, often sidelined, for whom the night is a routine and natural habitat, quite simply as normal as breathing.

‘…the reality of what goes on when the sun goes down.’

Philip Hoare