In Prerequisites for Sleep, her first published short story collection, Jennifer L. Stone has created a fictional world rich with dilemmas. From the young unwed mother paying the price for both her own mistakes as well as her family's, to the woman whose unexpected late-in-life pregnancy wreaks havoc on her relationship with her teenaged daughter, to the man who finds a mysterious woman taking over his kitchen and his life, to the elderly woman trying to balance dignity with aggression management in her relationship with her Alzheimer-stricken husband, all the characters in the thirteen stories of this collection must make decisions and compromises that invite insomnia. Although most of these characters are firmly rooted in Stone's Maritime landscape, their challenges are universal. They are people we recognize. They step off the page alive as family, friends, and neighbours.