Author Event: Jayne Anne Phillips - "Night Watch"
Jayne Anne Phillips, author of Lark and Termite, joins us to discuss Night Watch, her mesmerizing story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in the aftermath of the Civil War.
This is a ticketed event. Your $5 ticket can be put towards a purchase of the book at the event. Alternatively, you can add on a purchase of the book to your order and receive a free ticket. Either way, buy tickets through the link below (fees apply) or by calling us at 781-431-1160 during store hours (no fees). Please note that we cannot accept refunds within 48 hours of the event. Please also note that you must purchase your copy of the book from Wellesley Books in order to have the author sign it at the event.
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ABOUT THE BOOK
“Jayne Anne Phillips is a brilliant artist working at the height of her powers. Word by word, and line by line, there is no one better. This novel lives where a startling imagination meets scrupulous research: Night Watch is a tour de force—breathtaking in both its scope and intensity.” —Tayari Jones, author of An American Marriage
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.
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.
The omnipresent vagaries of war and race rise to the surface as we learn their story: their flight to the highest mountain ridges of western Virginia; the disappearance of ConaLee’s father, who left for the War and never returned. Meanwhile, in the asylum, they begin to find a new path. ConaLee 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.
Praise for Night Watch:
“Exquisite attention to detail propels a superb meditation on broken families in post-Civil War West Virginia . . . A profound sense of loss haunts the novel, and Phillips conveys a strong sense of place . . . The bruised and turbulent postbellum era comes alive in Phillips’s page-turning affair.” –Publishers Weekly, starred review
“Pitch-perfect voice . . . Set in West Virginia during and after the Civil War, Phillips’ book takes as given that slavery was evil and the war a necessity, focusing instead on lives torn apart by the conflict and on the period’s surprisingly enlightened approach toward care of the mentally ill . . . Gorgeous prose, attention to detail, and masterful characters . . . Haunting storytelling and a refreshing look at history.” –Kirkus, starred review
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JAYNE ANNE PHILLIPS is the author of Black Tickets, Machine Dreams, Fast Lanes, Shelter, MotherKind, Lark and Termite, and Quiet Dell. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Bunting Fellowship, and two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Winner of an Arts and Letters Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, she was inducted into the Academy in 2018. A National Book Award finalist, and twice a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, she lives in New York and Boston.
(Photo credit Elena Seibert)
