The Watch

Bibi Berki was born to Hungarian parents in Cambridge, spent her childhood in Hull, and then settled in London. She trained as a news reporter and has worked on regional and national titles, and as a film journalist as well. She was one of the founding press officers of the Greater London Authority, and now co-runs a production company which specialises in audio dramas. She is married with two children.

At an English University in the 1980s, an undergraduate is asked to keep an overnight suicide watch on another student, Danielle. It’s a meaningful experience for her, but our narrator is young and arrogant, with her life planned out and nothing but excitement for the future, so she can’t identify with Danielle’s dread of living another day. The years go by, she marries, has children and becomes a journalist as part of her long-term strategy to become an MP and make a difference in the world – but she’s never forgotten her night with Danielle and what passed between them. Until finally, after three decades, she gets the chance to find out the truth about her, and why their outlooks were so diametrically opposed. Berki’s novel is an absorbing exploration of the responsibilities we have for other people, and what it means to do good, which tips expectations on their heads with a surprising conclusion.