Add this WV Living Book Club read to your summer reading list.
Porch-swing mornings and long lazy days at the beach are the best times to sink into that “to read” stack that only grows higher the rest of the year. Let us add one more title to your stack—and then you can join us for our fall WV Living Book Club meeting.
We can’t highly enough recommend West Virginia native Jayne Anne Phillips’ 2023 novel, Night Watch. You’ll remember that she won the Pulitzer Prize for it in 2024. It’s a work of historical fiction set in one of the state’s most famous locations—the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston—in post–Civil War West Virginia. The tale follows the journey of pre-teen ConaLee as a resident at the TALA as her mother receives treatment following ongoing abuse by a Confederate soldier. The book tackles hard topics like trauma and war and their effect on mental health—but if you’re expecting a story about overcrowding and institutional neglect, you’ll be surprised. It’s true that, when the TALA closed in 1994, it was one of a number of dated and underfunded mental health institutions across the U.S. where those conditions were common. Night Watch is about the facility’s optimistic early days and its use of the Kirkbride Method, which called for sunlight, fresh air, and compassionate care. This book might make you think differently about the place.
Read Night Watch, and write down your questions for Phillips as you read. Then join us for our September 8, 2026, meeting, where Phillips will join us, likely by Zoom.
Visit the WV Living website to attend the fall meeting, in person or virtually, and have your copy of the book shipped right to your door.
wvliving.com/bookclub, @wvliving on FB
Bookstores and libraries are invited to join in on the fun! To become a participating partner, register on our Book Club page.
READ MORE ARTICLES FROM WV LIVING’S SUMMER 2026 ISSUE
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