
The Night Watch
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Buy Now for £16.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Juanita McMahon
-
By:
-
Sarah Waters
About this listen
Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Book of the Year, 2007.
Shortlisted for Audible's Listen of the Year, 2006.
Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, 2006.
Shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, 2006.
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.
©2006 Sarah Waters (P)2006 Time Warner AudioBooksThe Pride List of Queer Storytelling
Critic reviews
"A truthful, lovely book that needs no conjuring tricks to make you want to read it again." (Observer)
"Brilliantly done....A tour-de-force of hints, clues, and dropped threads." (Independent on Sunday)
This was the first book where I can recall women’s periods being dealt with and in simple plain terms - hardly a major factor in the book but important for most women and deserving of being featured.
Glad I listened to it
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Pretty average
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellent
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Excellently narrated
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Very unusual and thoroughly enjoyable
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The story line is interesting from the point of view of life in London during WWII and especially the ambulance service. Also the difficulties of being gay in that era. It was just not acceptable.
Beautifully read
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
The Night Watch
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
First book of Sarah Waters
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I had read Fingersmith, but somehow didn't connect either that book or the author with the lesbian/gay genre. The Nightwatch is more clearly of that genre. There is a scene, in a park, where one of the characters is uncomfortable about holding hands with her lover in public. It made me wonder about how little our attitudes have changed in many ways - there are still people I know who would not dare to be open about their relationships. So the book is quite thought-provoking in that respect - makes you think of things from a different perspective. I really enjoy books that can enlarge my understanding of a subject or a time-period but still retain the narrative, and The Night Watch certainly does that.
The structure of the book is that it starts in the post-war years, introducing the characters, and then progresses backward to reveal the history of each plot-line. It's an interesting approach, but I found it quite disatisfying in the end. I wanted more closure, especially for those characters that I'd grown attached to.
Interesting, enjoyable, strangely dissatsifying
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?
No. I found it slow paced and dreary. Excessive minute detail became numbingly boring and my attention wandered again and again. A shame really, as I enjoyed the TV adaptation.Would you ever listen to anything by Sarah Waters again?
Quite probably. I've liked the TV adaptations I've seen so I'll give SW another go at some point.What about Juanita McMahon’s performance did you like?
It was fine, clear and well paced.If this book were a film would you go see it?
Not if I'd read the book first!Worked much better adapted for the screen
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.