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內戰結束後的西維吉尼亞，自稱父親的男人找上門來。
小女孩ConaLee對父親沒有印象，畢竟，她是父親離開後不久才被生下的孩子。
這位自稱是父親的男子沒有帶來天倫之樂，反讓母親在活在暴力折磨之中，身心遭到重創，最終，父親將母女兩人遺棄在跨阿勒格尼精神病院，一走了之。
院內採用柯克布里德醫生推行的道德療法(Moral Treatment)，即以符合人本精神以陪伴和同理心治療病患。披覆戰後的顛沛與創傷，在此處相遇的天涯畸零人們，也彷彿命運牽引般，成為一條條線索，將她失落的身份逐步揭露…
作者Jayne Anne Phillips回溯、考據十九世紀的美國戰爭與醫療史，如實呈現慘烈戰事後的民生景況，隨著故事推進，作者也重筆著墨於當時的精神治療技術與理論。內戰甫結束，卻誰都沒能從戰爭帶來的影響中全身而退，然而，竟也是這些被耗損、磨蝕、飽經傷痛與流離的人，讓我們在殘酷的大時代下，窺見了相濡以沫的人性光輝。
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 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.
