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The Night Watch

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The Night Watch

By: Sarah Waters
Narrated by: Juanita McMahon
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£5.99/mo after 3 months. Offer ends on 5 July 2026 at 11:59 BST. Cancel monthly.

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Shortlisted for the British Book Awards, Book of the Year, 2007.
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.

©2006 Sarah Waters; (P)2006 Time Warner AudioBooks
Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Romance War Tear-jerking
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The Pride List of Queer Storytelling

To mark Pride 2023 Audible teamed up with non-profit organisation, Out on the Page, supporter and champion of LGBTQIA+ writers and writing, to release an extensive Pride List of Queer Storytelling. Featuring contributions from some of the UK’s most important and exciting voices from the LGBTQIA+ community, this audiobook is one of the many featured on the list that is available to listen to on Audible.

Critic reviews

"A truthful, lovely book that needs no conjuring tricks to make you want to read it again." (Observer)

"Brilliantly done....A tour-de-force of hints, clues, and dropped threads." (Independent on Sunday)

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I'm really glad I heard this as an audio book rather than reading it, otherwise I might have been tempted to skip back and forwards to try to work out what the heck was going on. The reverse timeline was possibly a bit too clever, but dealing with effects before causes did give the story an unusual kind of depth.
Particularly compelling was the author's depiction of a relationship that is falling apart, and the weird little things people do when the worst happens.

Weird and compelling

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This book is so atmospheric that I never wanted it to end.

My mother was a child at the time that the main characters were young women, but the values and experiences of this generation reverberated down the decades and I felt a real connection to the characters and their experiences. There is so much detail about what it was like to be living your life during and after the second world war that I was captivated. It felt like English roots. It was really fascinating to hear the experiences of these women in the 1940's ... a wonderful book.

btw, I also loved Fingersmith, but I liked this even more.

I never wanted it to end

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Loved it from beginning to end. Such an insight into real life during ww2. Great performance.

I wasn't ready for it to end!

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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.

Pretty average

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This was a very good story, linking up varios characters whose lives had crossed during the war. At times I found the extensive detail of sexual acts too much and had to push it on to the story line. It was at best Mills and Boon and at worst bordering on porn. ( When the prisoners are in their cell at night for instance!) I felt that was unnecessary, we can use our imaginations. I must admit the ending was unexpected and I would have preferred more tied up ends! If it is part of a trilogy or something I will be very pleased to go on with the characters.

Excellent Story but too much detail.

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