In the Gloaming (Story)

By: Dark, Alice Elliott

CHOSEN AS A BEST SHORT STORY OF THE 20TH CENTURY BY JOHN UPDIKE

THE BASIS FOR THE AWARD-WINNING HBO FILM FEATURING GLENN CLOSE AND ROBERT SEAN LEONARD

Now in a stand-alone edition, Alice Elliott Dark's celebrated and masterful work of literary short fiction, In the Gloaming depicts a loving mother, Janet, caring for her adult son, Laird, in the last months of his life during the early AIDS era.

The gloaming is the hour of changing light at dawn or dusk, when the world is as purple as the Scottish Highlands on a summer night. As mother and son sit together in the gathering darkness, a powerfully intimate conversation unfolds between them that shifts their understanding of each other and gives them strength for their final farewell.

In austerely beautiful prose, Dark lays bare the emotional turmoil and deep familial bonds between her characters, revealing the ache of adoration and devotion that so poignantly marks our inner lives.

With a new afterword from the author, this special stand-alone edition of In the Gloaming is a part of the Scribner Shorts program.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1668227762
• ISBN13: 9781668227763
• Release Date: September 2026
• Publisher: Scribner Book Company
• Length: 64 Pages
• Weight: 0.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.1" x 7.1"