Noctune by James Atlee (Hamish Hamilton, £18.99)

James Attlee believes, and I quite agree, that there is something sacred about moonlight and darkness. But it is getting harder and harder to see the night sky since men have flooded their cities with artificial light.

So the Oxford writer, whose first book, Isolarion, consisted of reflections on the Cowley Road, has embarked on a new journey, looking at moonlight in art, and at the moon itself from Vesuvius, the desert, Japan before the earthquake and the depths of the Welsh countryside. Nocturne’s publication tied in with Earth Hour last Saturday, March 26, a global protest against climate change and light pollution, when everyone was asked to turn off the lights for an hour.

The author will be at the Oxford Literary Festival on April 8.