The Nightwatchby Sarah Waters. "This is a mesmerizing story of young people in Britain during the Second World War. Ingeniously told backward, it takes characters where they are and answers the most intriguing of questions: How did they get here? Satisfying to the last line, Nightwatch jolts the reader with domestic front reality and all that women did while men—most of them—were fighting. Waters is known as a lesbian writer, but this does her a great disservice (shame on me for letting the label slip out again). She ranks among the greatest of stylists, and her use of historical detail is beautiful."
