Excerpt from Nightfaring by Megan Eaves-Egenes, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

Looking at the stars is one of the activities in human existence that elicits true wonder. That feeling of excitement, of the unknown; a sense of the ancient and everything that came before us and that will follow us. The stars have inspired art, music, poetry, and storytelling through every human age; they have guided our feet, our ships, and our satellites, and given us the ultimate gift of creative inspiration.

The only time I feel a real sense of perspective is when I'm looking up at the night sky because I'm reminded of how tiny I am and how insignificant my problems are. At the same time, it makes me feel like I, on this speck of rock, am still part of something—a being inextricably linked with the entire unfathomable universe.

This deep yearning to be overwhelmed by the star map overhead never goes; it is an engine constantly running in the background of my emotional life. And so any time a cloudless night presents itself, I am outdoors looking up, straining through sky-glow to see a few twinkles of light from a distant sun to feel the cosmic grandeur that connects us all.

Excerpted from NIGHTFARING by Megan Eaves-Egenes, copyright ©2026 by Megan Eaves-Egenes. Used with permission of Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.