Every 24 hours, the Earth rolls into its own vast shadow and darkness floods across the land and sea. In a 1600-kilometre-long gliding plumb-line down the length of  New Zealand, our beaches, towns, cities, farms, forests, lakes and mountains sink into shadow.

Annette Lees takes us walking into the night of Aotearoa that follows. In the company of bats, owls, moths, singing crickets and seabirds, After Dark guides us from dusk to dawn through a rich and fascinating trove of night stories: tales of war stealth, fireworks and ghosts; nights lit by candles, lanterns, fires and lighthouses; night surfing, night fishing, night diving and night skiing; mountain walking in the dark and night navigation on ocean voyaging waka.

After Dark weaves memoir, social history and unknown tales from the natural world to inspire us to step out the front door at night, where we can shed our day selves and slip easily into a wilder and older world that is waiting there.