The Man Who Couldn't Sleep

Witter Kerfoot has built a comfortable life on a lie. The Canadian author charmed New York's literary elite with his vivid tales of Alaska, a place he's never actually seen. But as his fabrications multiply and his past catches up with him, Kerfoot finds himself in the grip of a terrible insomnia that mirrors his unraveling sanity. Through sleepless nights and desperate days, he navigates a world of societal expectations and personal ambition, haunted by the specter of his own deception. His one anchor is Mary Lockwood, a wealthy woman who sees past his facade and challenges him toward something like honesty. When a violent incident erupts during a midnight excursion through the city, Kerfoot is forced to confront the wreckage of his choices and discover what, if anything, remains worth saving. Stringer's forgotten novel is a sharp portrait of the fraud who cannot sleep, the writer who has never truly lived, and the terrifying clarity that comes only when everything falls apart.