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The Night Watch
- Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
- Length: 19 hrs and 25 mins
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The Night Watch
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Summary
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.
The Pride List of Queer Storytelling
Critic reviews
"Brilliantly done....A tour-de-force of hints, clues, and dropped threads." ( Independent on Sunday)
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What listeners say about The Night Watch
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- MrsMac
- 02-04-21
Glad I listened to it
The stories chug along eventually gaining momentum. At times rather too wordy and I would have liked rather less of Viv’s brother and his friend - the factory and the prison scenes were a tad tedious.
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.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
- Miss
- 23-12-12
Pretty average
I didn't know what to expect with this book but it turned out to be pretty average. More the story line than the voices / acting. I have since seen a tv version and felt the same - it just didn't really grab me.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Katie
- 27-12-12
Excellent
I very much enjoyed this book. It's definitely better than some of her other books, and I thought was very well written. The narration is also very good. Set during the London blitz, it follows the lives of several females through this period, whose lives are separate, and yet intertwined. I'd highly recommend it.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Miss E.
- 13-01-23
Excellently narrated
I managed to get through purely because it was so well narrated. I was constantly waiting for the storey to get going or for something exciting to happen and it never did. However, I still enjoyed listening and particularly enjoyed the parts set in London during the blitz.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mrs
- 26-04-15
Very unusual and thoroughly enjoyable
If you have not read anything by SW before, I can recommend this as a starting point. She really is a first class storyteller. The novel is inhabited by fully rounded characters and is wonderfully atmospheric.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Lorrie Loo
- 16-06-20
Beautifully read
This book wouldn't have been half such a good listen if it hadn't been for the excellent reader Juanita McMahon. She brings all the characters alive. And has a different voice for them all.
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.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Elizabeth
- 05-03-07
Engaging
Wonderfully engaging characters; I loved the way details were gradually revealed, mysteries explained and misconceptions corrected.
I was taken aback when I realised that we were going backwards in time. Once I'd adjusted to that, though, I found this to be a fascinating meditation on how the characters reached their rather dull starting points - and of course, an interesting depiction of the way WWII affected ordinary people in Britain.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
- Nigel
- 07-02-08
Atmospheric and thought provoking
The book was very enjoyable. In the style of the great kitchen sink dramas of the 1960s. The backdrop is skillfully painted, with interesting characters and a mysteries which are only gradually revealed throughout the book.The narration is excellent, and the reader gives believable depth to the characters, both male and female in a way that makes you feel you are listening to a multi actor play.
I felt that the majority of the book took place in wartime and fleshed out the horrors of living through it, which made me think of how it affected my parents, something no other book, either fiction or non-fiction has done.
I was unsure about listening to some 'gay' literature, but found it gave me an insight into another world, and gave me real empathy.
All in all, a good thought provoking listen about the everyday lives of people in the mid 20th century. Don't miss the interview with the author at the end!
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- carole
- 03-08-14
captures the war and post war London atmosphere.
What made the experience of listening to The Night Watch the most enjoyable?
Atmospheric, but not trite. Characters are SO believable and stay with one long after the book's ending.I
What did you like best about this story?
I thoroughly enjoyed all of this book.
What does Juanita McMahon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?
Juanita McMahon is possibly the best audio book reader. She always brings her all to every audio book I have heard her read. I do hope she gets well deserved plaudits in this years reader awards.
Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?
Yes!
Any additional comments?
Must read her next books.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Louisa
- 23-08-06
A wonderful listen
A wonderful listen: The Night Watch
This is a wonderful listen - atmospheric and beautifully read. The most remarkable aspect of the book is the incredibly detailed description Sarah Walters gives of London during the bombing, and how sympathetically she describes the suffering and anguish of the characters. Throughout, I kept wondering whom she had talked to and how she had found out so much about what it felt like to live through that time. Most interesting of all is the way in which she subtly makes the reader reflect on how important the 1940s were for the way that people's lives changed because of the war. Although she never makes any overt statement, you feel that the characters, many of whom do not conform to social norms, were able to live freer lives than before the war and that attitudes towards them, after the war, would gradually change. Waters is excellent on people's little embarrassments. She describes how women did not like being seen going to the lavatory and how, when at work, they were not allowed to go to the lavatory except at specified times. These details, and the details about makeup and the petty tyrannies of the typing pool are what make one feel she must have talked to people and not just read about what it was like to live at that time. There are so many questions one would like to ask the author, that the interview with her at the end is a real disappointment, focusing on her schooling and sexuality rather than immense learning and her wonderful evocation of people and a period of which she can have had absolutely no personal experience.
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51 people found this helpful