Simon & Schuster UK, 2026
ISBN 978-1398532953
Reviewed by Ian Mowll
This book explores the night sky and our deep need for darkness, particularly at a time when light pollution has become a significant issue. The benefits of darkness and the night sky are numerous, including improved sleep and enhanced wellbeing, while the night sky itself opens us up to the awe and wonder of the Universe. Many people say that the Milky Way, when seen from a place with little or no light pollution, is profoundly different – far more wondrous – than the sky we experience in our cities. One of the book’s central themes is the reduction of light pollution, and it highlights individuals and organisations working towards this goal.
Part travelogue, part ecological reflection, and part personal memoir, Nightfaring follows Megan Eaves-Egenes across the globe – from New Zealand to the Himalayas – in search of places where true darkness still exists. Along the way, she explores how humans have historically related to the night: as guide, as mystery, and as a sacred presence. This, combined with the author’s gift for storytelling, makes much of the book compelling reading.
For GreenSpirit readers, the book’s deeper current lies in its spiritual rebalancing. Western traditions have long equated light with goodness and darkness with danger. Eaves-Egenes gently yet persistently challenges this dualism, revealing darkness as restorative, fertile, and necessary. This resonates strongly with Matthew Fox’s book Original Blessing and his concept of the via negativa. In making this point, the author echoes an ecological spirituality – one that honours cycles, shadow, and the unseen. The night becomes not something to banish, but something to enter attentively, humbly, and with wonder.
I have always looked up at the night sky with amazement, and this book has encouraged me to pay closer attention to it – as our ancestors did over the centuries – and to understand more deeply how darkness forms an essential part of my wellbeing and spiritual journey.