The Night Watch

Version: Unabridged
Author: Sarah Waters
Narrator: Juanita McMahon
Genres: Historical Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books
Published In: March 2006
# of Units: 16 CDs
Length: 20 hours
Ratings:
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Overview

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, a 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 a thrilling and towering literary achievement.

Selected Reviews

Compelling storytelling

by Peggy Stortz
  • Book Rating: 5/5

Night Watch

by Steve Y
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 4

Reviews (4)

Compelling storytelling

Written by Peggy Stortz on June 7th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 5/5

Waters is a master storyteller. You do have to listen carefully as there are several characters and the book starts at the end and moves backwards, but if you give it the time, it's a very rewarding tale.

Night Watch

Written by Steve Y on January 29th, 2009

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I made it through about six discs...waiting, hoping, longing for this to become more than it was. I wanted it to hook me, but no such thing happen. The author is wonderfully talented, but her decriptions of every thought, every detail, every nuance, every "bit of rubbish" was almost maddening. It was very frustrating to listen to the endless nit-picking dialogue of the main characters. Ordinary life certainly has some interest but not always every single minute thing.

Not the greatest

Written by lover of hyerbole on November 7th, 2008

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I sent this back early because it just wasn't my style. I felt like I was listening to Tipping the Velvet. I knew it was set in Old England before I rented it, and maybe I should have given it a bit more time. Try it out, but don't expect her to step outside of her box (no pun intended).

Great Lesbian Literature

Written by Anonymous from Danbury, CT on March 16th, 2007

  • Book Rating: 3/5

I am surprised that the description of this book does not state that at least 4 of the major characters in this book are lesbians. The text is very interesting and detailed on the blitz and England in WWII, however the sexual descriptions are quite graphic. Probably not a book for men.

Selected Reviews

Compelling storytelling

by Peggy Stortz
  • Book Rating: 5/5

Night Watch

by Steve Y
  • Book Rating: 3/5

More...

Read All 4

Author Details

Author Details

Waters, Sarah

Sarah Waters is the author of "Tipping the Velvet," a "New York Times" Notable Book, "Affinity," which won her the "Sunday Times" Young Writer of the Year award, and "Fingersmith," which was shortlisted for both the Orange Prize and the Man Booker Prize in 2002. Waters was named one of "Granta"'s best British writers under forty in 2003.