Barbara Isn’t Dying

Walter Schmidt has made it to old age without ever cracking an egg, folding a shirt, or questioning the roles that defined his life. His world runs like clockwork—thanks to Barbara, his steadfast and long-suffering wife. But when Barbara suddenly takes to bed and refuses to get up, Walter’s perfectly ordered life begins to unravel.

What begins as a crisis quickly becomes a strange, funny, and unexpectedly tender journey of reinvention. Forced to cook, clean, and care for the woman he’s taken for granted, Walter must face a version of himself he’s never met—and reckon with the love he’s never known how to show.

With razor-sharp wit and genuine warmth, Barbara Isn’t Dying is a quirky, heartfelt portrait of late-life transformation, a quietly radical love story, and a reminder that it’s never too late to become the person you were meant to be.