ARE YOU SLEEPING

Josie has spent the last ten years trying to escape her family’s reputation, and with good reason: her father was murdered, her mother ran away to join a cult, and her twin sister stole away her high school sweetheart. Josie has finally put down some roots in New York, settling into domestic life with her partner Caleb. The only problem is that she has lied to Caleb about every detail of her past.

When a podcast begins reinvestigating the long-closed case of Josie’s father’s murder, Josie worries that her world will unravel. After the death of Josie’s mother forces Josie to return to her Midwestern hometown, she must confront the unresolved relationships of her past and the lies on which she has built her future. The journalist producing the podcast becomes more dogged, and Josie’s sister reaches an emotional breaking point as the truth about their father’s murder is finally revealed.

Kathleen Barber holds a JD from Northwestern, and practiced bankruptcy law at large firms in Chicago and New York. Her short fiction has been published in Luna Luna Magazine, Vending Machine Press, and WhiskeyPaper. She previously blogged about wellness for Wanderlust and Lipstick, a women’s travel website, and about her trip backpacking through Africa on a personal travel blog called Nonbillable Hours. This is her first novel.