Until They Sleep a novel

by Staikos, Nadia

• ISBN13: 9781771839839
• ISBN10: 177183983X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2025-10-01
• Publisher: Guernica Editions

Summary

As a young girl, Frona quickly learns that the world she lives in is unable to accept her sensual nature. When Frona’s mother catches her satisfying her physical urges, the tirade that follows convinces Frona that she is a bad person. Frona navigates the journey into womanhood on her own, contorting her beliefs and behaviours in order to be anyone but herself. Despite all her careful self-restriction and efforts to be a dutiful wife and mother, Frona’s life refuses to go as planned. The furious child in her womb, her best friend with a secret wish, a man who finds new life at the bottom of a well, a lecherous priest with his own set of rules, her unorthodox wandering herbalist daughter, invading soldiers in need of inner peace, and a wayward ghost attempting reparations all chip away at the stories Frona has been telling herself in order to manage being alive. But has she allowed herself to really live? Maybe it’s time to stop and listen to what they all have to say.

Author Biography

Nadia Staikos (she/they) lives in Toronto with her two children. Their work has previously appeared in Barrelhouse, Poets & Writers, Lost Balloon, Montréal Writes, and elsewhere, and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best Small Fictions. She is former Prose Editor at Chestnut Review and works for United for Literacy, a national literacy charity. Her debut novel, Until They Sleep, is forthcoming in 2025 from Guernica Editions.