Circling Toward Nightfall: A Novel

AWARD–WINNING AUTHOR OF HUSH NOW, DON’T EXPLAIN2014 USA BEST BOOK AWARD LITERARY FICTION FINALIST Dennis Must explores the boundaries of reality and myth in his final book in a series, CIRCLING TOWARD NIGHTFALLCircling Toward Nightfall is a lyrical exploration of blood, duality, and the search for origins—a meditation on reconciling the body with the innermost self. Its narrator, Jeremiah Coombs, may be the only man on earth with two fathers. Told by Billy Coombs that he had no mother, Jeremiah later learns from his grandmother that her name was Bernadette and that she died in childbirth—despite his vivid memories of her presence in his early life. As the mysterious neighbor “Ichabod” Ernest Tyner takes on a growing role in Jeremiah’s life, he reveals that Bernadette was a nun from the Sisters of Conscience who gave birth to Jeremiah on the banks of the Ohio River before drowning herself. When the truth of his conception comes to light, Jeremiah is seized by a patricidal urge that drives the novel toward its haunting revelation. With characters who drift in and out like echoes from another world, Circling Toward Nightfall is an enigmatic and mythic final work.

AWARD–WINNING AUTHOR OF HUSH NOW, DON’T EXPLAIN

2014 USA BEST BOOK AWARD LITERARY FICTION FINALIST 

Dennis Must explores the boundaries of reality and myth in his final book in a series, CIRCLING TOWARD NIGHTFALL

Circling Toward Nightfall is a lyrical exploration of blood, duality, and the search for origins—a meditation on reconciling the body with the innermost self. Its narrator, Jeremiah Coombs, may be the only man on earth with two fathers. Told by Billy Coombs that he had no mother, Jeremiah later learns from his grandmother that her name was Bernadette and that she died in childbirth—despite his vivid memories of her presence in his early life.

As the mysterious neighbor “Ichabod” Ernest Tyner takes on a growing role in Jeremiah’s life, he reveals that Bernadette was a nun from the Sisters of Conscience who gave birth to Jeremiah on the banks of the Ohio River before drowning herself. When the truth of his conception comes to light, Jeremiah is seized by a patricidal urge that drives the novel toward its haunting revelation. With characters who drift in and out like echoes from another world, Circling Toward Nightfall is an enigmatic and mythic final work.

• | Author: Dennis Must
• | Publisher: Red Hen Press
• | Publication Date: Nov 27, 2025
• | Number of Pages:
• | Language:
• | Binding: Paperback / softback
• | ISBN-13: 9781636282848
• | ISBN-10: 1636282849