Vital yet repulsive, sacred and profane, waste is one of humanity’s greatest paradoxes, and it is in this murky, complicated space that it has forged its unique power. Nightsoil invites readers to confront what we all share but refuse to acknowledge—and in doing so, reveals the strange, essential, and world-shaping story of shit.

Shit is everywhere. Shit is nowhere. It is universal, unavoidable, and utterly taboo. Yet behind this messy reality lies a fascinating story about who we are, how we’ve lived, and where we are going.  

Shrouded in shame and embarrassment, it is perhaps no wonder that our relationship with shit has obscured its significance and rendered its ubiquitous presence throughout human history silent. 

Exploring the often-overlooked role of waste in our cultural, historical, and ecological evolution, Joanna Grochowicz blends humour and rigorous research to uncover how it has shaped agriculture, class hierarchies, medicine, religion, and even how we imagine the future. 

From the Aztec belief in shit gods to Christianity’s obsession with ritual cleanliness, the Nose of Empire to the Groom of the Stool, Haussmann’s sewers to the nightsoil gangs of mid-century China, Grochowicz plumbs the symbolic currency of shit, unearthing its position as a resource, a tool, and a mirror of our anxieties about mortality, purity, and control. This is not just a book about what we flush away, but of the inescapable, undeniable, and unseen ways in which waste has shaped societies, belief systems, and the very world we live in. 

By reexamining our past, Grochowicz challenges us to rethink the future—one where waste is not a problem to be hidden, but a key to a regenerative, sustainable world. Traveling through time and across the globe, Nightsoil invites readers to confront what we all share but refuse to acknowledge—and in doing so, reveals the strange, essential, and world-shaping story of shit.

About The Author

Joanna Grochowicz is a historian and author based in London. Fast-paced and exquisitely written, her children and YA novels of early exploration reveal in fascinating detail the human aspirations and tragedies that have shaped our understanding of the polar regions. Drawing on diaries, letters and expedition narratives from archives and personal collections around the world, Grochowicz brings to light new and often overlooked elements of the age of exploration. Realistic portrayals of historical figures and the interplay of personalities lend her work a grittiness and authenticity that is not often present in historical writing for children and young adults.