When Jane Mooney's older brother Connor lies about his age and enlists in the Great War at age fifteen, she can't imagine ever being more devastated. But a few months later on December 6, 1917, when two ships collide in Halifax Harbour, the resulting explosion destroys the Mooneys' North End neighbourhood. An injured Jane awakes only to discover that three of her brothers have died in the Halifax Explosion and her father is missing; her mother, recovering from a head injury, has been left confused and forgetful, and her younger brothers are looking to her for guidance. Jane and what is left of her family are forced to start over in the South End in a temporary neighbourhood built for Explosion survivors, which means new clothing and furniture from the donation centre, but also a new school full of snotty South Enders. The only bright light is that Jane now lives closer to her best friend, Livy Schrieder. Livy's brother, Will, gives Jane a job at the school newspaper, and she soon hears rumblings of a new enemy at their door: and this one is contagious. The Great Influenza Pandemic has reached Halifax's vulnerable shores. In a time of financial and emotional strain, and with this terrifying new threat, how will Jane keep her family safe? And why hasn't Connor written to her? Will he ever return from the trenches? Following in the immediate wake of A Blinding Light, with a universal message of hope, determination, and tenacity, Out of the Dark uses dual point of view to tell a remarkable story of rebuilding and resilience in a time of global upheaval.