The Last One Awake

If you're the one still up after everything has gone quiet - the one who does the rounds, keeps the invisible list, holds everyone up and gets held by nobody - this book was made for the night you're having.

Being read to at the end of the day was never something we should have had to leave behind with childhood. The point was never the story; it was that somebody stopped what they were doing, sat down, and stayed there until you were settled. Being read to is being seen. That's what a child is actually getting, and grown people still need it. We just decided somewhere along the way that we shouldn't, so most adults end the day with nobody having looked at them all the way through it.

This is a small, full-color book for grownups written to be read in bed and closed before the light goes out. It won't fix anything and doesn't ask anything back. It just stays beside you while the day loosens its hold - a quieter, kinder thing to reach for than the phone you'd otherwise be scrolling at bedtime.

And if the person who came to mind just now isn't you but someone else - the one in your life who carries too much - this is the book you hand over without a word. Made-me-think-of-you, not a lecture.

A taste of what's inside - Tonight's Forecast:

Heavy skies, and a full day's weight you've been carrying since morning. Nothing needs lifting tonight - leave the load right where you're standing. Lighter to pick back up by morning, if you still want all of it.

Reading time: no more than 10 minutes.