The Night Watch, by Sarah Waters

Set in 1940s wartime London, The Night Watch is the quietly engaging story of four survivors of the Blitz, whose paths cross at key junctures in their lives. “It’s a dark novel of blacked-out streets and bomb shelters,” author Sarah Waters says in an interview on Meet The Author. “It’s about people’s relatively quiet but intense emotional journeys.”

The Night Watch story moves backward in time through three sections, set first in 1947, then 1944, then 1941. The reverse structure of the novel allows Waters to leave important questions about her characters hanging—at least for a time. Once the reader understands that answers unfold through action in retrospect, as opposed to narrative asides, the novel becomes a kind of sophisticated psychological puzzle. The effect is so enjoyable that I shared the response of a few other reviewers: Once I finished, I wanted to start over again to discover how all of the pieces fit together.

“The moment you’ve finished the last beautiful paragraph, you have to turn immediately back to page one,” says children’s author Jacqueline Wilson in the Guardian Unlimited. “Two readings of a 440-page novel should last you for a very happy week.”

Waters already has quite a following based on three previous novels she has described as “lesbian Victorian romps.” With Fingersmith, Tipping the Velvet, and Affinity, she also racked up an impressive list of literary awards. In addition, both Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet were made into BBC miniseries that are worth a spot on your Netflix list (if you have such a thing).

Even though Waters is mining new historical territory with The Night Watch, she hasn’t left behind her interest in lesbian—and gay—characters. Like her earlier work, it chronicles stories and characters that haven’t previously been committed to print, and does so with a quality and literary style that ensures her work an audience outside of any single niche.

If you haven’t yet discovered Sarah Waters, you are in for a treat. And if you have? Enjoy The Night Watch.