The Night Watch
shortlisted for the Booker Prize
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3.8 • 32 Ratings
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
The number one bestseller, a tender and tragic story set against the turbulence of wartime London
The Night Watch us the extraordinary story of four Londoners: Kay, who wanders the streets in mannish clothes, restless and searching... Helen, who harbours a troubling secret... Viv, a glamour girl, recklessly loyal to her soldier lover... and Duncan, an apparent innocent, struggling with demons of his own.
Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked-out streets, illicit liaisons and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, this is an astonishing novel.
'Burns with a slow but scorching intensity' Mark Bostridge, Independent on Sunday
'Beautifully written, deeply moving and utterly engrossing' Elle
'Waters is an author to cherish, and this is probably her finest achievement yet' Justine Jordan, Guardian
'Terrific narrative tension' Daily Mail
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Waters (Fingersmith) applies her talent for literary suspense to WWII-era London in her latest historical. She populates the novel with ordinary people overlooked by history books and sets their individual passions against the chaotic background of extraordinary times. There are Kay, a "night watch" ambulance driver; her lover, Helen; two imprisoned conscientious objectors, upper-class Fraser and working-class Duncan; Duncan's sister, Viv; Viv's married soldier-lover, Reggie; and Julia, a building inspector cum mystery novelist. The novel works backward in time, beginning in 1947, as London emerges from the rubble of war, then to 1944, a time of nightly air raids, and finally to 1941, when the war's end was not in sight. Through all the turmoil on the world stage, the characters steal moments of love, fragments of calm and put their lives on the line for great sex and small kindnesses. Waters's sharply drawn page-turner doesn't quite equal the work of literary greats who've already mapped out WWII-era London. But she matches any of them with her scene of two women on the verge of an affair during a nighttime bombing raid, lost in blackout London with only the light of their passion as a guide.
Customer Reviews
Robbed!
After reading fingersmith, affinity and tipping the velvet, i thought this book would be just as fantastic. It was well written, sarah knows how to write in such a way that you almost see and feel what she writes, but what was its purpose? The end was the beginning, the beginning was the end and the middle was just pure filler! I was left with a feeling of emptiness. Why? Why had i just spent hours reading this book? What had i gained from it? And what the hell was it about?! It could have been so much more, so much better, but it felt like sarah had just written for the sake of filling the pages. There was no passion, no zest! C'mon sarah, you can do better than this.