Sarah Waters, The Night Watch

Claire O'Callaghan (University of Loughborough)
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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 coloured, and compelling to read” (“Review”, online). Reflecting its celebrated critical reception,

2828 words

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

23072 The Night Watch 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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