The Night Watch

By Sarah Waters,

Book cover of The Night Watch

Book description

I thought everything would change, after the war. And now, no one even mentions it. It is as if we all got together in private and said whatever you do don't mention that, like it never happened.

It's the late 1940s. Calm has returned to London and five people are…

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Why read it?

2 authors picked The Night Watch as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

The Night Watch is a chilling, atmospheric book that shows us the lives of a group of Londoners through the air raids of the 1940s. The story is told backwards from a point shortly after the war and reveals the motivations and characters of the story slowly, painfully, and with great care. A group of lesbian women, a woman entangled with a married man, and a young man punished for his part in a desperate pact: their personal stories are played out against a backdrop of fear and destruction. Perhaps my favourite of all Sarah Water’s fabulous novels, The Night…

It was interesting to read about life in London during the Blitz, and Kay, Helen and Viv’s stories are powerfully told. I’m fascinated by writers who experiment with form, and in telling the story backwards, in piecemeal fashion, Waters conveys a profound message about the messy and fragmented nature of life.

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