Book excerpt: Tim Winton's classic novella about the insidious grip of fear. In the Winter Dark is spellbinding. 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 ever be the same again. ‘Hair-raising vision . . . the pulse quickens, the spine chills.’ Weekend Australian 'A brooding story . . . tense and intense, at once a suspense thriller and a moral fable of a creature flung up from the deepest recesses of the mind . . . Like black glass, the novel throws back reflections of our own image.' The Age ‘This is Winton at his most disciplined, most distilled – it’s an unforgettable story, told with the simplicity that only a consummate artist can achieve.’ Sun Herald ‘You won’t be able to put it down.’ The Advertiser (Adelaide)