Night Watch by Jayne Ann Phillips

The premise of this book is survival and the time period is in the aftermath of the Civil War. It is 1874, and the United States is still reeling from the horrors of the Civil War. ConaLee and her mother, Eliza, alone on their family property when ConaLee’s father didn’t return from the war, havebeen repeatedly victimized by one of the roving veterans who survives merely by taking from those he encounters. This period during and after the war was especially dangerous for women and children left alone on their homesteads where even vigilance wasn’t enough to prevent an attack. When this stranger inserts himself into their lives, Eliza withdraws into herself and becomes little more than a ghost in her own home, wordless and numb. ConaLee does her best to care for her mother. When the cruel man has finally had enough, he loads ConaLee and Eliza on a wagon and delivers them to the steps of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in West Virginia. There, using false identities, they make a home for themselves and Eliza slowly begins to return to her former self under the care and protection of the people they meet. Unfortunately, peace and security rarely ever last. It does not go 100% as planned and it highlights a little written about aspect of the war.