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 Rebeccaโs 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 โ 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.
Michael Cunningham is the author of six novels, including โA Home at the End of the Worldโ, โFlesh and Bloodโ, โThe Hoursโ (winner of the PEN / Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize), โSpecimen Daysโ and โBy Nightfallโ, as well as โLandโs End: A Walk in Provincetownโ. His most recent novel is โThe Snow Queenโ. He lives in New York.