DownloadThe Portobello Bookshop Gift Guide 2024

When the Night Comes

Favel Parrett author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Hodder & Stoughton

Published:7th May '15

Should be back in stock very soon

When the Night Comes cover

From the prize-winning and critically acclaimed author of Past the Shallows (shortlisted for the 2012 Miles Franklin Award), comes a powerful and haunting novel set on the very edge of the world. Will appeal to readers of Cormac McCarthy and Tim Winton. 'If you read only one book this year, make sure it's this' Sunday Times on Past the Shallows. 'I loved Past the Shallows' Kevin Powers, author of The Yellow Birds

Set in Tasmania and Antarctica, this is the beautifully told new novel from bestselling author Favel Parrett. When the Night Comes tells the story of a young girl, learning what is important in life and who to trust; and of a crewman on the Antarctic supply ship, the Nella Dan, a modern Viking searching to understand his past and find a place in this world for himself.

When their paths cross, he teaches her the gift of stillness, of watching birds and shares tales of sailing south to the ice. She shows him what is missing in his life. Though their time together is cut short when his noble ship is lost, the small gifts have been enough to set her path towards the sea.

And maybe what they give to each other will mean they can both eventually find their way home.

A beautifully expressed book . . . moving * A Life in Books *
Page-turningly readable * Daily Mail *
Beautifully vivid * List *
Beautifully rendered . . . Parrett evokes the scenes in eerie, sharp prose poems that take the breath away . . . manages that high-wire act of good poetry, depicting the everyday stuff of life in a new light, eking out the profound from the mundane. Stirring stuff. * Big Issue Scotland *
Breathtaking . . . Poignant, hauntingly beautiful, this is a story about the wonder of journeys both physical and emotional . . . I think I have just fallen in love with a ship. * Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry and Perfect *
Favel's trademark lyricism bears us across gossamer prose or shakes us as powerfully as if we were flotsam . . . In so many ways When the Night Comes is more than a book. It's a companion to cherish as it says more to us each time we finish it and are drawn back to the beginning to start again . . . Heart-achingly beautiful, lyrically divine story of a little Aussie girl, a Danish merchant seaman, moments from their lives and the indelible print that they leave. No words or description could do this justice; in fact if I won the lottery I'd consider buying you each a copy. You deserve it! * Bookbag *

Praise for PAST THE SHALLOWS:
Beautiful, stripped-back prose . . . there is magic here. Like Cormac MCCarthy, Parrett packs a huge emotional punch thanks to the elegant brevity of her style. Stark, but unforgettable.

* Marie Claire *
An assured debut . . . In powerful, visceral prose Parrett conjures the thrill of changing waves . . . elsewhere, her prose is gentle and measured. * Daily Mail *
The settings are beautifully described. * Choice Magazine *

  • Long-listed for Miles Franklin Literary Award 2015

ISBN: 9781848548565

Dimensions: 199mm x 130mm x 23mm

Weight: 190g

272 pages