A Watch of Nightingales by Catherine Walker
In this WWI-era novel, two rich character studies, plus a murder mystery, take wing
“The meaning of life is to find your gift; the purpose of life is to give it away.”
—David Viscott
Maybe it’s hockey you’re into. Or writing, or baseball. Or painting or cooking or gardening. Or, who knows, perhaps you magic-marker smiley faces on rocks.
Whatever your passion, figuring it out and pursuing it is the way to self-fulfilment, as the late American psychiatrist David Viscott advised. This is the theme of Catherine Walker’s novel A Watch of Nightingales. A novel of the historical fiction genre, since one of the two young women protagonists is British Columbia artist Emily Carr.
And, it should be noted, a novel with inspiring quotes that start every chapter, from Viscott to Florence Nightingale to Rupert Brooke, and more.
So, the story. It’s 1912. Spurning the nagging efforts of stiffly traditional sisters to marry her off, Emily applies to and gets accepted by a London, UK art school. But it isn’t relief Emily feels on leaving. It’s a crise de coeur—her artistic coeur, that is. “She saw how the red cedar with some yellow cedar, spruce, fir and hemlock, all different shapes and colours, combined to create a dramatic panoramic across the land.” From her cross-Canada train window, Emily also observes the mountains and the grasslands. Would she ever have the skill to capture all these on canvas?
Meanwhile, in a prosperous English market town on the River Eden, Beth Jones is similarly resisting family pressure. A straight-A student, she could easily follow her parents’ wishes and attend Oxford or Cambridge. However, Beth would far rather cure and care for others. She’d always “felt happier and more proficient in shearing pens or assisting a ewe birthing than in the kitchen, preferring being outside in the sunshine with the spring air.”
Though it’s a while before the two protagonists meet, Walker ensures that their experiences are parallel and their reactions, reflecting their personalities, different. Arriving in London for her nurse-training, Beth loves the hustle and bustle, the range of people she gets to meet. Before long, she’s teaching an underprivileged boy how to read.
The Big Smoke, however, is not to Emily’s taste. “How she hated the greyness of the London buildings, the fog, the dust, crowds and poverty, the likes of which she had never witnessed.” And don’t even mention to her the British Museum, with its “moldering mummies.” Still, the city’s richesse of art does help Emily decide what and how she’d like to paint. “She knew that she’d never paint in the English style of Constable and Turner. She liked some of Whistler’s work. She still reached for her own oeuvre.”
Emily’s tumble on a staircase inflames an old foot injury, and off she goes to an East Anglia sanitorium—where, you guessed it, Beth is now working. Both women, despite being such contrasts to each other, appeal to the reader with their strong-mindedness, their independence, and their determination to defy expectations and follow their dreams.
All of which make them natural allies when a murder occurs at the sanitorium. Pooling their intellects and respective specializations in medicine and paints, they identify the killer.
Agatha Christie would approve, and not just because the climax to A Watch of Nightingales is cleverly devised and exciting. As a young woman in World War I, Agatha, like Beth, got into nursing and—drumroll, please—learned all about poisons. Most useful for a future mystery writer.
Which does suggest, like the collaboration between nurse Beth and artist Emily, that contrary to stereotype, science and creativity can be a delightfully productive mix.
About the Author
Scottish-born Catherine Walker, a retired nurse and professor from Claremont, Ontario, shares her passion for history and storytelling through her début novel, A Watch of Nightingales. When not writing, she enjoys time with her children and grandchildren.
About the Reviewer
Melanie Jackson is a Vancouver writer/editor. She’s also the award-winning author of middle-grade/YA suspensers, including Orca Books’ Dinah Galloway Mystery Series, and several chillers set in amusement parks. Visit Melanie at The Writers’ Union of Canada.
Book Details
Publisher: Inanna Publications and Education Inc., October 28, 2025
Language: English
Paperback: 350 pages
ISBN: 9781834210094