Eavesdropper

It's 1953. Soviets have the bomb and fear of communist influence in the US government and society at large is at its peak. In the quiet, rural town of Goshen, one family learns hiding in plain sight isn't as easy as it seems.

Eavesdropper is the story of 14-year-old Sara, an inquisitive girl who lives with her progressive parents in a conservative New England small town, where they moved to avoid city life, polio, and surveillance. Sara faces the usual challenges of adolescence-friendships, hormones, and boys-amidst the backdrop of the isolated yet beautiful forest and the air raid drills at school. Partly by eavesdropping, Sara becomes increasingly aware of a protective veil of secrecy her parents have drawn around their past. As Sara's curiosity grows, so does the persecution of the Red Scare, which infiltrates her small town, threatening to expose her family.

Alexandra Kivowitz, a transplant from New England, is a psychotherapist living in southern California with her husband Charles and a part-time dog named Maple. "Eavesdropper" is her first novel.