&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:TheNightWatchcover2006.jpg) UK first edition cover | |
| Author | Sarah Waters |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | TWBG – Duncan Spilling Lettering: Stephen Raw |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical fiction |
| Publisher | Virago |
Publication date | 2 Feb 2006 (UK) |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| 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.