"Somewhere in him, a shadow turned mournfully over. Even in daytime, the threat of darkness is present the book opens with the itinerant lightning-rod seller Tom Fury blowing into town just ahead of "a storm like a great beast with terrible teeth".īradbury described the night like no one else. Most of the book is set in the dead hours of night, as Jim and Will investigate the arrival of the mysterious carnival and the effect it has on the townsfolk, lured by its bright lights but quickly drawn into shadows: the teacher who grows young again, the boy aged beyond all sense, the man who becomes his dwarfish reflection in the hall of mirrors. Then there's Mr Dark, a moustache-twirling villain dressed in black, straight from the inky, monochrome illustrations of melodramas. Even the boys' names reflect it: adventurous, reckless Jim Nightshade – a night-blooming flower, for sure – and bookish Will Halloway, almost Halloween in name. The novel is drenched in darkness, every character a slice of night.
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