Night Watch

＂In 1874, in the wake of the Civil War, eleven-year-old ConaLee and her mother arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. They’re delivered to the hospital’s entrance by Papa--an abusive veteran who forces himself into their lives afer ConaLee’s mother, who hasn’t spoken in a year, grows even more withdrawn. Before he departs, Papa assigns them new identities and demands that ConaLee introduce herself as her mother’s nurse--not her daughter--so they’ll both be admitted and allowed to stay. There, far from family, their beloved neighbor Dearbhla, and the home they know, ConaLee will care for her mother and try to reclaim their lives. Years earlier, ConaLee’s father left for the war before she was born and never returned＂--

JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS is the author of Quiet Dell, Lark and Termite, Motherkind, Shelter, and Machine Dreams. She was a finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critic’s Circle Award and is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bunting Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. She is also the winner of the Sue Kaufman Prize and an Academy Award in Literature from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters.