By Nightfall

By: Michael Cunningham

Narrated by: Hugh Dancy

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

Publisher's summary

From the Pultizer Prize-winning author of ‘The Hours’, comes the story of a marriage thrown off course by a moment of mistaken identity.

Peter Harris is forty-four, prosperous, the owner of a big New York apartment and a player in the contemporary art scene. He has been married to Rebecca for close to twenty years. Their marriage is sound, in the way marriages are. Peter might even describe himself as happy. But then Rebecca’s much younger brother Mizzy shows up for a visit. Beautiful, twenty-three years old, with a history of drug problems, Mizzy is looking for direction. And in his presence, Peter finds himself questioning his marriage, his desires, his career – the entire world he has so carefully constructed for himself.

Making us think deeply about the uses of beauty and the place of love in our lives, By Nightfall is heartbreaking look at the way we live now.

©2011 Michael Cunningham (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

‘Cunningham encourages his reader to wrestle with things that interest him by sketching his plots delicately over classic lines. In this case, the arrival of the guest who will change everything is reworked into a discussion about art and decay by a writer who can write a page-turning novel that lingers eloquently in the mind’ The Times

‘This is a book about art, love, marriage and mortality… One of the intriguing and peculiar qualities of ‘By Nightfall’ is that it makes you live with a character who seems never quite at ease with his own identity… One of Cunningham's gifts is to be able to shift gears when he wants, out of banal everydayness into an intense rhapsodic meditation on the meaning and purpose of life.’ Guardian

‘Michael Cunningham is embarked on one of the more satisfying career trajectories of contemporary American novelists…’By Nightfall’ offers the reader an abundance of exquisite, enriching thumbnail sketches’ Times Literary Supplement

‘Constantly surprising … a love letter to New York, a hymn to youth and a meditation on the way art and literature alter our perception of the world’ Evening Standard

Sad,almost desperate, but beatifully written...

What did you love best about By Nightfall?

Michael Cunningham is truly a great writer that can give a deep insight into the souls of his characters

Would you be willing to try another book from Michael Cunningham? Why or why not?

These books are not "entertaining" , so one needs to be in a special mood ; but yes i will indeed read one more book from Cunnigngham

Which scene was your favorite?

The end is beautifully written and very moving

Who was the most memorable character of By Nightfall and why?

The story revolves arounf three characters ; they are equally interesting

Any additional comments?

nope

captivating

Such an amazing and heartbreaking story about identity crisis, family struggles, art and love. Hugh Dancy's voice takes you in a journey through human emotions so... human, you never want it to end.