For generations they've shared the small Maine island of Seven, but the Hillsingers and the Quicks have always kept apart, even since before Jim Hillsinger and Billy Quick married sisters. When Jim is ousted from the CIA under suspicion of treason, he begins to suspect that he has been betrayed --- by his brother-in-law, Billy, and also by his own wife, Lila. In retaliation, he decides to carry out an old threat: to send their 12-year-old son, Catta, to a neighboring island to test his survival skills.

Set over three summer days in 1964, Estep Nagy's debut novel moves among the communities of Seven --- the families, the servants and the children --- as longstanding tensions become tactical face-offs in which love, loss and long-held secrets become brutal ammunition. Vividly capturing the rift between the cold warriors of Jim's generation and the rebellious seekers of Catta's, WE SHALL NOT ALL SLEEP is a richly told story of American class, family and manipulation, and a compelling portrait of a unique and privileged enclave on the brink of dissolution.