Cultural Dessert

'The Night Watch' by Sarah Waters

4 January 2008

I raced through the 480 pages of Sarah Waters' novel 'The Night Watch' during the Christmas break. It's a gripping romantic thriller set in wartime London which follows the fortunes of four characters whose lives cross in a variety of ways. But 'The Night Watch' varies from most tales of London in the Blitz in two ways. Firstly, if you've encountered Waters' earlier novels 'Tipping the Velvet' and 'Fingersmith', it won't surprise you that the majority of the relationships described here are all-female. Secondly, the narrative of 'The Night Watch' happens in reverse: the book is divided into three sections, the first of which is set in 1947, the second in 1944 and the final pages in 1941. This gives the novel a peculiar fascination as you gradually unravel how the characters arrived at where you first find them. I'm not giving anything away (as it happens at the start of the book!) by telling you that all four main characters survive the war but no-one gets a particularly happy ending. I found it a thrilling puzzle of a book, albeit with a very bleak, sad outlook.

Labels: Books

posted by Robin Simpson @ 3:07 pm