In The Winter Dark is a 1988 novel by award-winning author Tim Winton

Tim Winton

Timothy John "Tim" Winton , is an Australian novelist and short story writer.-Life:Winton was born in Perth, Western Australia, but moved at a young age to the regional city of Albany....

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Night falls. In a lonely valley called the Sink, four people prepare for a quiet evening. Then in his orchard, Murray Jaccob sees a moving shadow. Across the swamp, his neighbour Ronnie watches her lover leave and feels her baby roll inside her. And on the verandah of the Stubbses' house, a small dog is torn screaming from its leash by something unseen. Nothing will be the same again.

(from the dust jacket)

A very short novel, the 1988 hardback edition is approximately Penguin paperback sized and runs to 132 well-spaced pages.

ISBN 0869140450

A part of the novel in an earlier stage of evolution appeared in Antipodes (Journal).

Film

A low-budget, but highly regarded, feature film adaptation of the book was made in 1998. It starred Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Blethyn

Brenda Anne Blethyn, OBE is an English actress who has worked in theatre, television and film. Blethyn has received two Academy Award nominations, two SAG Award nominations, two Emmy Award nominations and three Golden Globe Award nominations, winning one...

, Ray Barret, Richard Roxburgh

Richard Roxburgh

Richard Roxburgh is an Australian actor who has starred in many Australian films and has appeared in supporting roles in a number of Hollywood productions, usually as villains.-Early life:...

 and Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto

Miranda Otto is an Australian actress. The daughter of actors Lindsay and Barry Otto and the sister of actress Gracie Otto, she began acting at age eighteen, and has performed in a variety of independent and major studio films....

and was Directed by James Bogle.