Sarah Waters, The Night Watch

Claire O'Callaghan (University of Loughborough)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 1.2.1.09: English Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary Britain , 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Kerry Myler (Newman University), Jenni Ramone (The Nottingham Trent University)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1999

Places

England (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

For her fourth novel, The Night Watch, Sarah Waters abandons the rustling petticoats and corsets of the Victorian era depicted in her first three neo-Victorian fictions: Tipping the Velvet (1997), Affinity (1998) and Fingersmith (2002), and jumps to the sadder, austere setting of war-torn London in the 1940s. Published in 2006 by Virago Press, the novel has received the critical acclaim of reviewers and readers alike. Justine Jordan, writing in The Guardian, describes The Night Watch as “a fine nuanced, wise and generous novel” (“Through the bomb sites”, online). Likewise, fellow writer Michèle Roberts praises The Night Watch as “sharply and compassionately observed, richly …

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2828 words

Citation: O'Callaghan, Claire. "The Night Watch". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 19 May 2010 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=23072, accessed 25 April 2024.]

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