When We Believed in Mermaids by Barbara O’Neal

Her sister has been gone for fifteen years—until Kit sees her on TV.

Josie Bianci was thought to have died in a train explosion during a terrorist attack, leaving her sister Kit, an ER doctor in Santa Cruz, to mourn her loss. But a brief, heart-stopping moment changes everything. Footage from a club fire in Auckland captures a woman who looks exactly like Josie. The resemblance is undeniable, stirring a torrent of emotions—grief, disbelief, and anger—as Kit sets out to uncover the truth about the sister who faked her death.

In New Zealand, Kit begins a journey filled with memories of their shared childhood: sun-soaked days at the beach, a teenage boy who became like family, and a traumatic event that forever shaped their lives. To mend their relationship, Kit and Josie must confront the painful truths and secrets that have divided them for years.

Their reunion demands a reckoning with the past, and the cost of rediscovering each other might be more than either of them can bear.