The Night Watch

Written by Sarah Waters

Narrated by Juanita McMahon

Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked out streets, illicit liaisons, sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch is the work of a truly brilliant and compelling storyteller.

This is the story of four Londoners - three women and a young man with a past, drawn with absolute truth and intimacy. Kay, who drove an ambulance during the war and lived life at full throttle, now dresses in mannish clothes and wanders the streets with a restless hunger, searching . . . Helen, clever, sweet, much-loved, harbours a painful secret . . . Viv, glamour girl, is stubbornly, even foolishly loyal, to her soldier lover . . . Duncan, an apparent innocent, has had his own demons to fight during the war. Their lives, and their secrets connect in sometimes startling ways. War leads to strange alliances . . .

Tender, tragic and beautifully poignant, set against the backdrop of feats of heroism both epic and ordinary, here is a novel of relationships that offers up subtle surprises and twists. The Night Watch is thrilling. A towering achievement.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Little, Brown (Hachette UK) Audio
• Release date: Feb 2, 2006
• ISBN: 9781405502047

Sarah Waters

Sarah Waters nació en Gales, Gran Bretaña, en 1966. Estudió literatura inglesa en las universidades de Kent y Lancaster, y ha publicado artículos sobre género, sexualidad e historia en revistas como Feminist Review, Journal of the History of Sexuality y Science as Culture. En enero de 2003 fue seleccionada por la revista Granta en su lista decenal de los Young British Novelists.

Reviews for The Night Watch

[chris.wolak · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Sarah Waters is a goddess. As one reviewer wrote, she could make watching paint dry seem fascinating.

[infjsarah · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Another book that has been on my shelf forever. Sadly I didn't like this one much at all. "Fingersmith" and "Affinity" are brilliant books - "Night Watch" is booooooring. I couldn't keep track of who was who and had to keep checking nor did I care about any of them. I did get to the end but I was really glad to get there. Has put me off any more of Sarah Waters books a bit.

[fence_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Starting in 1947 The Night Watch tells the story, in reverse chronology, of various people in and around London during the Blitz. Their stories progress by going backwards in time, so that when we leave them they have it all to experience. Their loves and losses, the air raids and rations, these things are all ahead of the characters. They have yet to become who they were when we met them at the start of the novel.

As for that the story is about? Well, it is about people. People and relationships and just plain living. And the war, but the war is more of a backdrop to the story of Kay, Helen, Julia, Duncan and Viv. They don’t all know one another, but their stories and lives intersect over the course of the book.

I originally picked this up because the only other Sarah Waters’ book I’d read1 was a wonderful creepy read. Perfect for last year’s RIP challenge. I was browsing for something to pick up at the library and came across this. The title sounded vaguely possibly horror/creepy. But it doesn’t fit, not really, so I won’t be counting it as an RIP read this year.

I really enjoyed The Little Stranger but I had problems with the ending. And although I loved the style of writing here, it really is so evocative and so wonderfully descriptive, the story seemed to be almost undone by the manner in which it was told. We slowly get to know these characters, but only through their pasts and how that haunts them, or affects them, and then we learn about those haunting events, but then … nothing. We end at the beginning. I was left feeling as though it was all a bit pointless. I got to know them only to learn why they were, in some cases, broken and bent by the world, but because I was experiencing their lives in reverse it seemed like all I read about was moot because in the end it had yet to happen. Also, and it isn’t a spoiler, because it is from the early chapters, but they are all unhappy and weary and dispirited in so many ways at the start of the book. But that is where they are heading, so no matter how the book ends, because it ends in the past, that it where they will end up. And that isn’t a very uplifting sort of thought.

Not that a book has to end happily ever after, but it would be nice if there was some sort of growth towards happiness. There are hints I think, that steps are being taken, but because I met the characters at the end of the arc, rather than the beginning, it didn’t have the impact on me had I experienced their story in something more linear.

I also found it very difficult to keep the characters straight in my head. I was constantly starting a section and trying to figure out which one was Kay again, and was it Helen that was the sister, or the jealous lover…

I do sometimes have issues with character names though, so that might be a failing on my reading rather than the book itself.

Despite that negativity I think that The Night Watch probably turns into a better book the more you think about it. And a reread would be very rewarding indeed.

[ansate · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I got really caught up in the characters, but I didn't like the way the book went backwards in time - it made for a few nifty reveals, but I still want to know what happens NEXT.

[edwinbcn · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Boring, totally unintertesting book. I tried to read it twice. There are too many characters, and none of the characters come to life. There is no plot. It doesn't even feel as if the book is set in the 1940s.

[cindywho-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I listened to this one on audiobook. This is one of Waters' less fanciful novels, set during and after WW2 in London. It moves backwards through 3 time periods, illuminating the connections and actions of the several characters and their personal disasters. At times I would smile or gasp while listening in the dark, her stories seem so real.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

"Jon, this is about lesbians." Such was my stepmom's drawly voice on the phone one afternoon. I had bought The Little Stranger for her birthday a month before. I then read that novel and discovered it was rubbish or at least a muddled effort to be a class-conscious ghost story. I ran out the following day and bought her The Night Watch which I had read months before and liked considerably. I never thought that this single detail would elicit a literary discussion over the phone. This was in fact the closest to a literary conversation I have ever had with any of my family over the phone or otherwise.

[majesdane-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It took me ages to finish this. Waters really just can't write men and/or heterosexual characters, it feels like, because their parts of this were absolutely dreadful. Waters' Victorian-trilogy still remains her best work, in my view.

[lukerik-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There are two novels here: one good, one bad.The good novel is one that apes life: a plot-less series of episodes. Vivid scenes that feel real, sometimes funny, sometimes too horrible to read.The bad novel is one that apes life: a plot-less series of episodes. Characters less than vivid and no narrative drive. Each episode is interesting but the pacing so slow a little part of you dies when you have to start on the next section.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I didn't find this book as interesting as other reviewers. It's kind of bland at the beginning and then it starts going backwards. First it's set in 1947 and then part 2 is 1944 and part 3 is 1940. I find when books go backwards it can be a little confusing and I really didn't care for this to happen in this book. The section on 1947 was okay and part 2 was a little better but it slightly confused me and I had to go back to the first section to check a few things out. I had to force myself to finish the book though. I found it boring and didn't hold my attention too well. I did enjoy the part about the bombings and what went on with the war and the ambulances but I've read that information in other books. As my sister says why waste your time on a bad book when you wouldn't waste your time on a bad movie. I'm not saying this is bad but I do wish I hadn't wasted my time on it. I've read many books a lot better than this one that covers WWII.

[sovranty · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Attempting to settle into the changing roles of a post-WWII life, we slowly learn what life was and what secrets were created following the characters in a reverse chronological view of events. While the characters were well developed, it was more difficult to become emotionally involved with them due to the way their lives were exposed in reverse. It was as though we learned the why before understanding the how, never allow it to settle and grow with you. Compared to other Sarah Waters's novels, I struggled to get through this one. The characters are still very well developed, the story is conceptually novel and the descriptions keep you involved; not sure what my issue was with this one.

[kristilabrie · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was my first novel by Waters, and it won’t be my last. Waters' writing immerses you into the time where the novel is set, her attention to detail draws you into the story in a way that only a skillful writer can. I loved the character development of this book, and I enjoyed reflecting upon how beautifully she wove four people’s lives together during WWII.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I like the way this book told the story "backwards": it starts in 1947 and goes back to 1945, then 1941. In this way, we get to know the characters in the present, and gradually learn their history, much like we encounter people in real life. The characters were wonderfully complex people and well developed.In the end, the author pursued certain story lines that I found less interesting than several not pursued.

[booklovers2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I wasn't so sure about this at 1st, but I always love a great WWII love story and this book was interesting and didn't disappoint! Actually quite a good read. The way the writer set the story was definitely different - I enjoyed knowing that they survived all the traumatic events and was later filled in on how they got to where they were at the beginning of the book however, was surprised at how the ending just ended. I wanted more, so I knew at the end, that although it wouldn't have been a must read for me, I did enjoy getting to know these interesting characters.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was chosen by LibraryThing for a One LibraryThing One Book read by LibraryThing members in May and June 2015. This struck me as an interesting way to read a book and it was easy to get a copy from my local library. Other than that I didn't really know anything about the book so I had no preconceptions about it.The book takes place in and after World War II and follows four relatively young Londoners, three women and one man, who are all defying society's norms regarding sexuality. Kay was an ambulance driver in the war and was a lesbian with mannish clothing and haircut. Helen worked in one of the war offices and has had relationships with both men and women. Vivien also worked in a war office as a typist. She entered into a relationship with a married man during the war. Duncan is Vivien's brother and he spent the war in jail although it is not clear until the last what his crime was. Duncan is also a homosexual. Besides the sibling relationship there are other connections between the main characters. The really interesting thing about the book is how it is structured. It starts in 1947, then goes back to 1944 and finishes in 1941 with the incidents that placed the characters in the situations they found themselves in later. This unconventional approach made the book more like a mystery which was just fine with me.People who are repulsed by homosexuality should give this book a pass but for anyone else interested in the lives of ordinary people during the war I would recommend it.

[terrygraap · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A historical fiction about some gay people starting in 1947 London and it goes back in time to 1944 and 1941. All of the lives are intertwined and the characters are developed further through time backwards.

[piemouth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stories of several intertwined people. starting in post-war London and going backwards. In 1947 they're adjusting to post-war life. Someone remarks on how during the war, everybody was so kind and helpful to each other, just as in the Rebecca Solnit book I read recently. As the book moves backwards in time various things are revealed. Each of the characters has their own secrets and I liked seeing how relationships changed – had changed – in ways I didn't expect. There were also great descriptions of wartime life –ambulance drivers, a huge fire.I liked it a lot, though at the end I was frustrated, hoping it would circle back to 1947 and we'd see what became of the characters, if changes hinted at the end of the first section came to pass. I'm still thinking about all the characters, comparing now and then, and re-read the earlier chapters to glean hints. I like feeling this engaged by a book.

[gatorhater · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The story line was very confusing to follow going backwards in time, the characters were dull and lifeless, bringing me to my overall conclusion that this novel lacked alot of substance to keep the reader interested.

[bragan_8 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Night Watch follows the intertwined lives of several people -- mostly women -- in London during and after WWII. All of whom have secrets, or parts of their lives the rest of the world would consider unacceptable: homosexuality, affairs, a stint in jail...It's an interestingly structured novel, as it's divided into three parts, each of which takes place three years before the previous one, making it a sort of journey backwards through these characters' lives. It's a structure that works remarkably well; I was always interested in what was happening to the characters at the current point in the narrative, but also curious to learn the details of past events and what led them from point A to point B. And the way the novel leaves us with the beginnings of things we've already seen the ending (or at least the evolution) of is rather poignant.I didn't find it quite as addictively compelling as the other two of Waters' novels that I've read -- Fingersmith and The Little Stranger -- but for a novel that's character- rather than plot-based, it's a remarkably fast read. And I find myself extremely impressed, this time, by how well Waters captures ordinary, realistic, awkward moments, in relationships in sex, and in life. There were a few places where I found that realism almost painful, but always in a good way.

[deltaqueen50 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found The Night Watch by Sarah Waters one of the most interesting books I have read about London during the war. The book follows an assorted group of people and drifts back and forth in time from 1947 to 1944 and finally to the catalyst year of 1941. These Londoners are loosely connected and we follow them through their desires, their guilt, their regrets. Although many of the characters are gay this is not a story about ones’ sexual preference, rather that of people trying to live their lives in a London that has been changed by war.With Sarah Waters, one must be patient, she is wordy and her books are long and could probably do with some tighter editing, but the reward is there, a gem of a story just waiting to be discovered. This author writes beautifully, and has the ability to move her readers while she also educates. I can’t promise that the reader will find many characters that are truly likeable, but they are all very much alive and living lives that engaged my attention thoroughly. I know there are many that find her work a real slog to get through, but I really relished her unique point of view and enjoyed puzzling this story out. The Night Watch is an historical novel that is rich in period details and with a few strokes of her pen she is able to place her readers on the dark streets of London during the air raids or at a government Ministry working in a typing pool. The story is complex, filled with twists and rather sad. At the end of the story, which is really the beginning, it’s almost impossible not to start in again and read the beginning, which is really the end.

[bookworm12_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is my fourth Waters novel, but it deviated in a lot of ways from what I've come to expect from her books. There's no vibe of gothic mystery, instead it's more historical fiction. Set in London during World War II, the story follows four main characters, Kay, Helen, Viv and Duncan. Like the other three Waters novels that I’ve read, it’s extremely well written. The setting is beautifully described; the characters are well-drawn, etc., but my problem with this book lay in the plotting and structure. We start after the war is done and everyone settled back into their lives in 1947. We meet our main characters and they constantly make vague references to things that happened during the war. Later we travel back to 1944 when the city was being bombed to bits by the Germans. Kay is an ambulance driver and rescues people after their homes are bombed. These scenes were some of my favorite in the book. You could feel the fear and smell the smoke as London fell into ruin around its loyal citizens. Kay’s girlfriend Helen is a less interesting character and one that seems indecisive about what she wants from life. Then there’s Viv, a bright young woman who has gotten caught up in a relationship with a married man named Reggie. The final character is Duncan, a young man serving time in prison. We rotate between the lives of each character, learning tiny bits about how they got where they are, but there are always unanswered questions. The story moves slowly at first and it took me a while to get into it. The author leaves us intentionally in the dark on quite a few things that she mentions in the first portion of the book. As the novel progresses things are slowly revealed. You supposed to hang in there and trust that it will all be explained, but in the end I never felt like I got the whole story. By structuring the book in reverse chronological order you remove a huge amount of suspense. When we move back to 1944 and then to 1941 at the very end, we already know who lives and dies and who ends up together. There are obviously pros and cons to this unique method or storytelling, but it does take the suspense out of certain events. **SPOILERS**A few of my issues with the book… At the end we find out that Helen was already almost killed in a bomb blast. If that’s true, why on earth would she refuse to go to the shelter during future bombings? I would think that she would be the first one in the shelter the second the alarm sounded! Also, Duncan and his friend took suicide ridiculously nonchalantly. It really bothered me that only one of the boys wanted to kill himself it took him about 30 seconds to convince Duncan to join his suicide pact. It was like a big game to them and I can't imagine two teenage boys saying, “What do you want to do this today? I don't know let's kill ourselves. Ok, sounds great!” Also, did I miss something, where it’s explained why Duncan decided to move in with Mr. Mundy? Viv’s story made a little bit more sense when you see how she met Reggie, except she knew from the get-go that he was on leave to go see his wife and their new baby. My real problem with her wasn't even how they met. What I didn’t get was their ending. He abandons her when she’s in the middle of a medical emergency and about to die. And yet we see in their 1947 section that they are still together with no explanation. That made no sense to me.**SPOILERS OVER**BOTTOM LINE: I think the story really lost something in the structure. The writing is gorgeous and I particularly love learning more about this time period, but it was almost like reading the ending of a book and then trying to go back and start from the beginning. Not my favorite Waters novel. ** I do want to say that the audiobook version was fantastic. It was read by Juanita McMahon and she was just excellent!

[erica471 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book for my bookgroup. I'm so glad that it was for my bookgroup because I probably would have given up otherwise. I have previously read Fingersmith and The Little Stranger also by Sarah Waters. I really liked them both. I found the 1947 section confusing. You are just dropped into these people's lives without any background. I had difficulty keeping track of the the characters and how they connected. Once I read to the 1944 section things began to make sense. I loved the way in which the characters had connections with each other. The descriptions of 1940's wartime London really made you feel like you were there. The characters were all flawed-but so human. When I finished the book I immediately went back to the first section and read it again to catch all the things I missed. I can't wait to discuss this with my book group this week. I know that this is probably not the book for everyone, but I loved it.

[astrologerjenny · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very good read. There are five main characters, and their lives are layered together before, during, and after the bombing of London in World War II. The novel works backwards, with each section moving the reader a few more years into the past, and this probably wouldn’t work so well in the hands of a less able writer. In most novels, we are told about the characters’ backgrounds, but in this novel, we live it.

The most interesting of the main characters is Kay, an androgynous ambulance driver during the Blitz. She holds herself aloof from the reader in the beginning, so it takes a while to get her story, but she is the one whose passion shakes you. Her lover Helen is not as sympathetic, but is realistically drawn, as we watch her becoming obsessed with another woman. Two other interwoven plots underline the theme of connection and disconnection.

Waters is really good at atmosphere, and she’s captured the fatalism and the many hungers that must have been part of being a Londoner during WWII. People live in small, dark spaces, and even the streets are claustrophic at night. Everyone seems a little hunted. And when it’s over, it’s not really over.

[e5j · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I had a hard time deciding between 3 and 4 stars. Everything felt so real and the characters so different they actually felt like people I related to - but it did take me a while to get into this one. Mostly I just kept thinking ah lesbians, how fickle you are.

[kgib_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So, I fell in love with Sarah Waters after a certain plot twist in Fingersmith -- I thought she laid the groundwork for it perfectly, and it came out of nowhere (for me). I think all of her books have quite a different feel to them, but you can always count on her for realistic, multi-dimensional characters and a fascinating, well-researched historical background.

This book's plot is a little more meandering than the others, but I was still caught up in the character's lives and I was interested in this view of post-war England. That feeling that people had been cheated out of their youth, feeling aimless after the war...

And hey, if you like this book you should read Pat Barker's Ghost Road. They remind me a little of each other.

[jeremypreacher · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

As a set of character sketches, this was excellent. As a story, this... wasn't. The reverse-chronological arrangement of the sections appeared to be an unsuccessful attempt to conceal the fact that there's no actual plot, and it meant that there was nearly no tension at all, since we know from the first twenty pages who survives and who they end up sleeping with.

The characters are reasonably interesting and well-drawn, but I just don't have much patience with books that are essentially painstakingly crafted dioramas.

[hardlyhardy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The most notable thing about "The Night Watch," a 2006 novel by Sarah Waters, is the way the plot moves back in time, starting in 1947 postwar London, then moving back to 1944 and finally to 1941. This device wouldn't work in most novels, which we want to start at the beginning of the story and work toward the end, but it works here, where the most dramatic events have already happened when the story opens.The plot follows the stories of several intersecting characters whose lives are relatively settled in 1947, but there are suggestions of past trauma. Rather than using flashbacks, as most novelists would do, Waters just moves the story backward until we learn the answers to the key questions. How did Vivian get entangled in a deadend romance with Reggie, a married man? Why did her brother Duncan, a seemingly harmless young man, serve a prison sentence? How did Kay, Helen and Julia get involved in a lesbian love triangle?There are some novels that you finish, then want to start reading again at the beginning to see what you missed. "The Night Watch" is one of them.

[mks27 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Sarah Waters, in The Night Watch, brought me to her setting in both an emotional and a physical reality. Not only did she take me to WW II London, but she completely imbedded me in this almost surreal place and time.I had never imagined being an ambulance driver on the night shift in London during the bombings, the smells, textures, impaired visibility, the dead and the injured, the destruction, and blocked and trashed streets or a prisoner trapped in a locked cell block when the bombs begin to fall trying to find some way to get through the night. The title is so apt, each character, regardless, were all on the night watch and all dealt with that reality differently.She examines the question of how the people of London during this time, experienced, lived with, and survived the terrors and fears of war and how this experience changed them. Waters did her research well and much of what she writes is based on firsthand accounts. Indeed, she includes an extensive bibliography of her wide ranging sources.The characters comprise a set of loosely connected London residents who we follow from 1947, after the War’s end, and travel back in time with, first to 1944, and then 1941. Waters sets up situations with hints of what happened before, compelling the reader to move back with her in time to learn the origins of her character’s circumstances. This book was everything I had hoped it would be and more.

[sumariotter · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I found this book extremely interesting but not enthralling like her others. It is set in the forties, rather than the Victorian era and this is I think why I did not like it quite as much. I have a lot more affinity for the Victorian era, and I think that Sarah Waters does as well. This novel also does not have the plot twists and adventurousness of her other novels--it is still a very worthwhile and interesting read.

[joules63 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyed characters in the book and her recreation and images of London during WWII and particularly the Blitz. Book is written in reverse order i.e most recent events occur at the beginning interesting concept but didn't really add anything to the book for me. And I quite often read last page before I ever finish a book!