Wolf Moon
On sale
3rd July 2025
Price: £10.99
‘Imaginative and empathetic’
Guardian
‘A celebration of the exuberance of night-time and a moving portrait of the dangers of the dark’
The Times
‘A fascinating voyage into the night’
i Paper
The night has always been teeming with life. From the labour of security guards and sex workers to the ecstasy of queer raves and religious ceremonies, this nocturnal landscape is populated by many, cloaked beneath the darkness. It is a time of fear and vulnerability, nightmares and insomnia – yet it contains another world, too, one of beauty and possibility.
Haunting and intimate, Wolf Moon is an entrancing journey from dusk until daybreak, and a remarkable exploration of how the night has shaped our bodies, minds, and cultures.
Guardian
‘A celebration of the exuberance of night-time and a moving portrait of the dangers of the dark’
The Times
‘A fascinating voyage into the night’
i Paper
The night has always been teeming with life. From the labour of security guards and sex workers to the ecstasy of queer raves and religious ceremonies, this nocturnal landscape is populated by many, cloaked beneath the darkness. It is a time of fear and vulnerability, nightmares and insomnia – yet it contains another world, too, one of beauty and possibility.
Haunting and intimate, Wolf Moon is an entrancing journey from dusk until daybreak, and a remarkable exploration of how the night has shaped our bodies, minds, and cultures.
Reviews
Arifa Akbar's fascinating exploration of the night had me entranced from start to finish. It is wide-ranging, thoughtful, intelligent and so elegantly written, an absolute joy
In this intense psychic and physical exploration of the black hours, Arifa Akbar opens up about her insomnia - which is both destructive and creative - gets to know night-time workers and lightless places, tries to understand the mysteries of sleep and mines her own life. Truthful, lyrical and unforgettable
A deft, rich and intimate exploration of darkness in all its varied guises . . . bold, and beautifully written, Akbar captures the multiple facets of darkness through the lens of a woman alone
A beautifully written combination of personal reflection and broader thought, learned without being earnest, moving without being mawkish, at once atmospheric and touching, quite haunting in fact - and a worthy follow up to the brilliant Consumed
Akbar's writing has an oneiric quality that translates interiority into language - she writes about insomnia, night terrors, of strange female figures glimpsed on Waterloo Bridge, of the joyful abandon of dancing all night in a techno club in Berlin, all in crystalline prose . . . despite its attentiveness towards analysis and cultural criticism, Wolf Moon also has an emotional undercurrent of vulnerability and self-reckoning that makes it deeply touching and irrevocably humanistic
This imaginative and empathetic book will probably not guide you to better sleep, but it will be a fine companion for the wakeful hours
A rich kaleidoscope of a book in which a series of visions emerge from the shadows . . . those who people the night may not always be visible to those who sleep soundly but their stories are rich and complex and infinitely varied
Reveals the enchantment and fear that darkness holds for women . . . an energetic exploration
[A] lyrical examination of the world between dusk and dawn . . . Wolf Moon is a celebration of the exuberance of night-time and a moving portrait of the dangers of the dark
[A] fascinating voyage into the night and all those who inhabit it
[A] deeply personal voyage into the nocturnal world . . . a worthy companion for the witching hours