Historical Fiction · MelancholicA girl brings her mother to a West Virginia asylum in 1874, after the Civil War
Night Watch
A twelve-year-old girl brings her silent mother to an asylum after the Civil War
In 1874, twelve-year-old ConaLee, who has long been the responsible adult in her family, travels with her mother Eliza, who has not spoken in over a year. A war veteran brings them to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, far from home, where ConaLee passes as her mother's maid while Eliza slowly responds to treatment. Around them are the asylum's staff and residents, among them a mysterious figure called the Night Watch and an orphan named Weed, and flashbacks reveal what drove the two into the mountains and what became of ConaLee's father, who went to war and never came home.
More about this book
Who
ConaLee, twelve years old, who has long acted as the adult in her family, and her mother Eliza, who has not spoken in over a year. A war veteran who has forced himself into their lives brings them by buckboard to the asylum. ConaLee's father left for the war and never came home.
World
1874, in the years after the Civil War. The asylum is the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, far from the family, a beloved neighbor and their mountain home.
What makes it different
The book is about erasure, trauma and namelessness in the postwar period. Flashbacks reveal what drove the two into the mountains.
Feel
Historical fiction. Knopf published it in September 2023; it was longlisted for the National Book Award and won the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.