Nina Stibbe is the author of the highly acclaimed memoir Love, Nina and the novels Man at the Helm and, most recently, Paradise Lodge. She lives in Cornwall, England, with her partner and their two children. Follow her @ninastibbe and ninastibbe.com

Nyctophobia

Most of us have a mild phobia or two without knowing exactly why. But Nina Stibbe knows: her aversion to night began with a man, a ladder, a scorned woman, and a shotgun.