The Night Watch

· Sold by Penguin
3.9
7 reviews
Ebook
544
Pages
Eligible

About this ebook

“[A] wonderful novel…Waters is almost Dickensian in her wealth of description and depth of character.”—Chicago Tribune

Moving back through the 1940s, through air raids, blacked-out streets, illicit partying, and sexual adventure, to end with its beginning in 1941, The Night Watch tells the story of four Londoners—three women and a young man with a past—whose lives, and those of their friends and lovers, connect in tragedy, stunning surprise and exquisite turns, only to change irreversibly in the shadow of a grand historical event.

Ratings and reviews

3.9
7 reviews
A Google user
April 3, 2011
The Night Watch is the story of four commoners in World War II London, coping with personal and historical tragedies during air raid, black-outs and rationing. It is a story of loss, illicit affairs, desperation, hope, and love. Historical novels and movies have the tendency to be epic, to turn the characters into heroes, events into epics. As a result it is hard to identify with their characters, to understand what was like to live those events. The Night Watch does not fall in that trap. Its WWII London and its characters are just commoners, with common weaknesses, hopes, fears and tragedies. As a result it is impossible to not identify with them. It is impossible to not experience all the horrors, the destruction, the fears they experience, or to share their hopes or their joy for historically insignificant but extremely real events. The result is an extremely powerful novel, able to shake the reader to the core.
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A Google user
June 25, 2011
I liike the way her scenes with different characters drift into one another...It's very cinematic. The reverse chron. is an interesting way to have her story unfold, but had expected the device to be used to better advantage (with some sort of unexpected twist at the end). Some of the scenes were a bit gore ridden, but I suppose that's to be expected for a novel set in WW2 London.
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About the author

Sarah Waters is the New York Times–bestselling author of The Paying GuestsThe Little Stranger,The Night WatchFingersmith, Affinity, and Tipping the Velvet. She has three times been short-listed for the Man Booker Prize, has twice been a finalist for the Orange Prize, and was named one of Granta’s best young British novelists, among other distinctions. Waters lives in London.

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