About the book

Mice 1961.

by Stacey Levine

Set in southern Florida during the Cold War, Mice 1961 follows two orphaned half-sisters, Jody and Mice, through the perspective of their intensely observant housekeeper and companion, Girtle. Mice is treated as an outsider because of her appearance and behavior, while Jody struggles with the possibility that her sister may leave. During a neighborhood gathering, the sisters and those around them encounter a disturbing stranger whose arrival pushes their already strained relationships toward major change. The novel explores belonging, conformity, otherness, sibling relationships, and the emotional pressures of living under the shadow of Cold War anxiety.