The Night Watch (Waters novel)
 UK first edition cover | |
| Author | Sarah Waters |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | TWBG - Duncan Spilling Lettering: Stephen Raw |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Virago |
Publication date | 2 Feb 2006 (UK) |
| Media type | Print (hardback & paperback) |
| Pages | 480 pp |
| ISBN | 1-84408-246-6 |
| OCLC | 62265716 |
The Night Watch is a dark, 2006 historical fiction novel by Sarah Waters. It was shortlisted for both the 2006 Man Booker Prize and the 2006 Orange Prize. The novel, which is told backward through third-person narrative, takes place in 1940s London during and after World War II. The storyline follows the fragmented lives and the strange interconnections between Kay, Helen and Julia, three lesbians; Viv, a straight woman; and Duncan, her brother, whose sexuality is ambiguous. The war, with its never-ending night watches, serves as a horrifying backdrop and metaphor of the morbidity that surrounds life and love.
Plot summary[]
 | This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. (November 2008) |
1947[]
Kay
The novel begins with Kay Langrish-a woman broken by the war. She spends her days locked in her room in London, watching her landlord's patients arrive and leave at precisely the same hours every day. The only human contact that Kay is seen to be having at this stage in the narrative is with another lesbian, Mickey. Kay is suggested to be wealthy by her residence in Lavender Hill. One night, while waiting for the cinema doors to open, Viv, a woman from her past appears and hands to her a gold ring.
Helen
Helen and her assistant Viv run a match-making agency near Bond Street for individuals who have either lost their loved one or were disappointed to see how much their sweethearts had changed after the war. The work itself is not very fulfilling, but their hesitant friendship keeps them entertained. Helen's girlfriend Julia is an accomplished author. When Julia isn't home one night, Helen is overcome with worry and jealousy.
Viv
After work, Viv sets off to meet her brother Duncan, who lives with a much older gentleman named Mr Mundy. The three of them meet on a weekly basis for dinner at Mr Mundy's, and Viv always brings a tin of meat for them to share. Duncan shrugs off news of their father, and proceeds to show Viv the latest addition to his antiques collection. Viv politely ends the night and heads for the railway station, but she doesn't go home to her father's.
On the same day that Helen wanted to confide her love for Julia to Viv, the two women receive an unexpected visit from Robert Fraser, Duncan’s old cellmate. He asks to speak with her regarding Duncan, and his present condition: collecting antiques (which Robert finds morbid), living with Mr Mundy, whom both men knew at the prison, and working at a candle factory. Viv dismisses Fraser, feeling as though he thinks she and her father haven’t done enough to help Duncan’s situation and explains that he simply doesn’t know everything.
Duncan
Duncan accompanies Mr Mundy, or "Uncle Horace," as he referred to him in public, every Tuesday to his Christian Science doctor at Lavender Hill. After having dinner with his sister, Duncan works at the candle factory. It is implied that the boss adores him, and he shies away when a younger co-worker brags about his latest indiscretion and invites Duncan to join him. When he leaves work, Duncan is surprised to see Fraser waiting for him at the gates. He invites Duncan to a pub by the water, and Duncan reluctantly agrees, mainly because he doesn't want Mr Mundy to worry.
Fraser makes several calls at Duncan's for dinner. One night, however, he doesn't show up, and Duncan is quite upset, while Mr Mundy is relieved. Duncan decides to find Fraser, leaving Mr Mundy home alone.
1944[]
Duncan
Duncan has been imprisoned in Wormwood Scrubs for three years now, and Viv and her father visit him once a month. Duncan's time is juxtaposed between prison guard Mr Mundy's kind and defeatist demeanour and Fraser's free-thinking, free-acting attitude.
Viv
Viv is working as a typist, along with many other girls, and lodges at a boarding house with some of her co-workers. She meets Reggie, who is married, at anonymous hotels once every five weeks, whenever Reggie is permitted leave from Wales. When her "friend" is late, Viv realizes that she must be pregnant, and hesitates to tell Reggie.
Kay
Kay works as an emergency response ambulance worker along with Mickey. She spends long nights cleaning up after air raids. One night, Kay and Mickey are sent out to take a woman to the hospital as she miscarries. On the same night, Kay learns of an air raid that occurred on her street. She assumes her girlfriend Helen has been asleep in their flat throughout the entire raid. Kay panics and runs to the rubble to where her flat used to be, and cries thinking Helen is dead.
Helen
Helen works for the government in a division that assists those who've lost their belongings in the war. By chance she runs into Julia, a woman who was once acquainted with Kay. On her birthday, Helen is restless and alone at home, and decided to leave for Julia's flat. They take a walk around the ruins of bombed churches and neighborhoods, and when another air raid alarm is sounded, they run and hide from the chaos. Nights later, she realizes she's late to go home from Julia's, and they hurry back to Helen and Kay's flat.
1941[]
Viv is on a crowded train, filled with civilians and military men. By chance, she meets a soldier named Reggie. They engage in a conversation under awkward circumstances, and he reveals to her that he is stuck in an unhappy marriage.
Duncan and his friend Alec are angry at their families and the government when Alec receives his service papers. They decide to make a statement with deadly consequences.
Kay is responding to an emergency call along with Mickey. They arrive at the scene and find one woman dead, another young woman caught underneath rubble, and two others trapped behind more debris.
Awards[]
- Man Booker Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006
- Orange Prize for Fiction (shortlist), 2006
- Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction, 2007
TV-movie adaptation[]
On 25 November 2010, BBC2 network announced the cast for the 90-minute of The Night Watch.[1] It was adapted by Paula Milne and directed by Richard Laxton and was broadcast on 12 July 2011 on BBC Two.
Cast:[2]
- Anna Maxwell Martin as Kay
- Claire Foy as Helen
- Jodie Whittaker as Viv
- Harry Treadaway as Duncan
- Anna Wilson-Jones as Julia
- JJ Feild as Robert
- Liam Garrigan as Reggie
- Claudie Blakley as Nancy
- Kenneth Cranham as Mr Mundy
References[]
External links[]
- Book description at Sarah Waters' official webpage
- Smoother than velvet: Book review at The Guardian
- This Is London: Book review at the New York Times
- Great book on London during the Blitz Book review at Nishita's Rants and Raves
- Historical novels
- Novels set during World War II
- 2006 British novels
- English novels
- Novels by Sarah Waters
- Novels set in London
- Fiction set in 1941
- Fiction set in 1944
- Novels set in the 1940s
- British novels adapted into films
- 2000s LGBT novels