Authors
: Jayne Anne Phillips
Features
: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, hardback
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER - LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION - A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - From one of our most accomplished novelists, a mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War—and a brilliant portrait of family endurance against all odds"A tour de force." —Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage - In 1874, in the wake of the War, erasure, trauma, and namelessness haunt civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old Cona - Lee, the adult in her family for as long as she can remember, finds herself on a buckboard journey with her mother, Eliza, who hasn’t spoken in more than a year. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives. - Lee’s father, who left for the War and never returned. Meanwhile, in the asylum, they begin to find a new path. Cona - Lee pretends to be her mother’s maid; Eliza responds slowly to treatment. They get swept up in the life of the facility—the mysterious man they call the Night Watch; the orphan child called Weed; the fearsome woman who runs the kitchen; the remarkable doctor at the head of the institution. - Epic, enthralling, and meticulously crafted, Night Watch is a stunning chronicle of surviving war and its aftermath.