Between the Lines Book Discussion: Night Watch by Jayne Anne Phillips

PULITZER PRIZE WINNER – LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN FICTION – A NEW YORKER BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR

“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 ConaLee, 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. They arrive at the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital’s entrance by a war veteran who has forced himself into their world. There, far from family, a beloved neighbor, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives.