Jayne Phillips

A deeply moving novel about hopeful beginnings and profound endings - from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Night Watch''A brilliant writer, utterly original and with an astonishing range'' IAN McEWAN''Phillips combines extraordinary perception with extraordinary versatility and power'' MARGARET ATWOOD''Shimmering prose, fierce realism and probing meditativeness'' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH''The beauty and originality of MotherKind are undeniable'' TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENTOne summer''s day, 30-year-old Kate flies to her Appalachian hometown to tell her mother she is pregnant. But when she arrives, her mother reveals that she doesn''t have long to live. Kate is suddenly thrust into roles of enormous responsibility, caring for both her child and her terminally ill mother. In the same year that she watches her newborn grow, Kate witnesses the gradual disappearance of a woman who has been her best friend and mentor her entire life, and is forced to reckon with devastating loss alongside a joyful new beginning.

A new offering from award-winning author Jayne Anne Phillips, set during the American Civil War and seen through the eyes of ConaLee, a teenage girl in the divided state of Virginia, whose father is away fighting for the Union. THE 2024 PULITZER PRIZE WINNER IN FICTION A mesmerising story about a mother and daughter seeking refuge in a mental asylum in the chaotic aftermath of the Civil War. In 1874, in the wake of the war, trauma haunts civilians and veterans, renegades and wanderers, freedmen and runaways. Twelve-year-old ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, who hasn't spoken in more than a year, arrive at the Trans-Allegh eny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia, delivered to the hospital's entrance by a war vet eran who has forced himself into their lives. There, far from family, a beloved neighbour, and the mountain home they knew, they try to reclaim their lives. The twin horrors of war and race rise to the surface as we learn their history: 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 mystery behind the man they call the Night Watch; the 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 brilliant portrait of family endurance against all odds and a stunning chronicle of surviving war and its aftermath.