Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 22 hours ago
Washington and Lee University will host its 20th annual Tom Wolfe Weekend April 11-12. The weekend’s seminar will feature Jayne Anne Phillips, author of “Night Watch,” which received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In “Night Watch,” Phillips paints a portrait of endurance and survival in the aftermath of war. The novel follows 12-year-old ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, who has not spoken in over a year, as they find themselves delivered to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, uprooted from their family, neighbors and beloved mountain home. As the two try to reclaim their lives and become swept up in the life of the asylum — with ConaLee posing as her mother’s maid while Eliza is being treated — readers learn more about the family’s experience during the war and how they plan to move forward. “Night Watch” is an intimate and enthralling chronicle of family endurance against all odds, inviting readers to consider the trauma war inflicts on families.
Washington and Lee University will host its 20th annual Tom Wolfe Weekend April 11-12. The weekend’s seminar will feature Jayne Anne Phillips, author of “Night Watch,” which received the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
In “Night Watch,” Phillips paints a portrait of endurance and survival in the aftermath of war. The novel follows 12-year-old ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, who has not spoken in over a year, as they find themselves delivered to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, uprooted from their family, neighbors and beloved mountain home. As the two try to reclaim their lives and become swept up in the life of the asylum — with ConaLee posing as her mother’s maid while Eliza is being treated — readers learn more about the family’s experience during the war and how they plan to move forward. “Night Watch” is an intimate and enthralling chronicle of family endurance against all odds, inviting readers to consider the trauma war inflicts on families.
