Dan Richards’ audiobook ‘Overnight: Journeys, Conversations and Stories After Dark’ offers a compelling exploration of the lives of those who work while the world sleeps. The author narrates his own work, blending memoir and investigative journalism to uncover the stories of shift workers and essential labourers.
Richards, who describes himself as more owl than lark, meets a diverse range of night workers. These include dock workers in Southampton, outreach staff at St Mungo’s supporting the homeless, a search and rescue team in Lincolnshire, and night ferry operatives transporting passengers from Aberdeen to Lerwick. He also visits The Dusty Knuckle bakery in Dalston, London, which trains young people from troubled backgrounds, and speaks to mothers of newborns navigating night feeds.
The narration is atmospheric and illuminating, with Richards’ voice crackling with emotion as he recounts his own experience as a patient at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary with Covid during the early pandemic. His eight-day hospitalisation was spent in a ‘semi-delirious trance’, focusing solely on breathing and living.
