When the Night Comes

Longlisted for The Miles Franklin Literary Award 2015


Shortlisted for the Indie Book Awards 2015 (Best Fiction Book)

Shortlisted for The Australian Booksellers Association (ABA) Nielsen BookData Booksellers Choice Award 2015

Shortlisted for the ABIA Award (Literary Fiction Book of the Year) 2015

Longlisted for The Kibble Literary Award (established writer) 2015

Longlisted for The Australian Literary Studies Gold Medal 2015


'Breathtaking, poignant, hauntingly beautiful' - Rachel Joyce. Bestselling author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry


From award-winning author of Past The Shallows, Favel Parrett, a story about the moments that save us and the moments that change us.

Running away from the mainland was supposed to make their lives better. But, for Isla and her brother, their mother's sadness and the cold, damp greyness of Hobart's stone streets seeps into everything.

Then, one morning, Isla sees a red ship. That colour lights her day. And when a sailor from the ship befriends her mother, he shares his stories with them all - of Antarctica, his home in Denmark and life onboard. Like the snow white petrels that survive in the harshest coldest place, this lonely girl at the bottom of the world will learn that it is possible to go anywhere, be anything. But she will also find out that it is just as easy to lose it all.

For Isla, those two long summers will change everything.

When the Night Comes is an evocative and gently told story about the power fear and kindness have to change lives.


'the richness of Parrett's characters and her descriptive powers will capture your heart' - Australian Women's Weekly

'When the Night Comes combines the realism of early David Malouf with the sombre concision of Dorothy Porter, and is skilfully shaped to make the historical feel truly present' - Books+Publishing

'a haunting and beautiful tale of friendship between a girl and a modern Viking' - Instyle

'The true poetry in Parrett's novel lies in its sense of place and landscape... Parrett is masterful at imbuing such minutiae with psychological insight... Isla and Bo are compassionately rendered and wholly convincing, and we ride the wake of their hurts and joys long after the novel's close' - Australian Book Review

'the gentle power of the narrative carries the conviction of strongly embedded personal experiences... This book has the same poetic cadences and a simple sophistication of expression that makes it eminently readable. This is an evocative story elegantly told that will have special appeal to those who are seafarers, real or imaginary' - Sunday Tasmanian