This query is part of the Be an Agent for a Day contest. Rules and Regulations here
Please post your rejection or manuscript request in the comment section!
Dear Agent for a Day,
I understand from Nathan Bransford’s blog that you are seeking queries for review as part of the ‘Be an Agent for a Day’ event. I have a 90,000 word complete MS entitled ROSIE’S CHILD available for your consideration.
Motherhood, they say, is a biological fact, while fatherhood is a social construction. While you may wonder who your father is, there’s never any question who your mother is.
At least, that’s what most people think.
When Rosie Martin, a good-time girl living and drinking in West Cork, Ireland, in the 1940s, falls pregnant outside of wedlock, her first thought is for her childless best friend, Elizabeth McCarthy, unable to conceive after six years of marriage. Together, they hatch a plan to organise an adoption in a society wholly dependent on secrets and lies, where there are no adoption laws and where unmarried mothers can expect to be incarcerated and enslaved.
And when Jack McCarthy dies suddenly in 2007, his daughter Hannah is bequeathed a house she didn’t know he owned. Desperate to find out the secrets her father took to his grave, Hannah embarks on a quest to find out how he came to own a house belonging to his mother’s reclusive neighbour, and uncovers a strange love story she could never have imagined in an era she struggles to understand.
The novel is best classified as literary fiction and is set in Ireland, alternating between the 1940s and the present day. I am previously unpublished and ROSIE’S CHILD is my first novel.
Thank you for your time,
Author
STATS: 29% request rate
2readornot says
I find this very intriguing. Please send along the first 30 pages.
Chuck H. says
Dear Author,
Sorry to say this just didn’t grab me. Good luck with your search for representation.
Sincerely,
Chuck
(Well written query, I just think this has been done before.)
Kathy says
Thank you for your query but I’m going to have to pass.
Best of luck to you.
Sincerely,
Kathy
Anahita says
Dear Author:
Thanks for sharing your query. Sorry I can’t represent your work. Good luck!
Anahita
Sara J. Henry says
Request pages[Reasons: Can’t even tell you why, but this just sounds right – never mind that you should never say “I am previously unpublished.”]
kathy says
Dear Author,
I am interested in seeing more. Please send the first 50 pages of your manuscript.
Thanks,
Kathy
Saint_Fool says
Dear Author:
Thank you for your query. Unfortunately, I do not feel that your story is the right fit for me.
Best of luck.
Saint_Fool
Enusan says
Thank you for your query. Unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to represent your book with the enthusiasm it deserves, as I do not have an interest in or understanding of literature centered around family drama.
That Girl says
Dear Author,
Thank you for your query. Unfortunately, I will have to pass at this time.
Best of luck,
That Agent Girl
Diana says
This sounds like a great story, but I’m not sure whether the story is in the present or the past, or how they will be interacting chapter by chapter. Is Rosie the character we will follow, or is Hannah? Also… and this is unjustified seeing as I have never read the story, but is there a more evocative title that relates to the story. I’m just reminded of Rosemary’s baby.
R. Markiam says
Dear Author,
Thank you for your query letter and for thinking of me for representation of Rosie’s Child. While your novel sounds intriguing, I’m sorry to say I won’t be able to pursue it further with you. You truly were in my “would accept if I could go beyond 5 category.” Because I was on the fence with your query, I want to provide some reasoning beyond the standard rejection. I found myself wondering if the book would be about Jack and Hannah or about Rosie and Elizabeth? My advice for future query letters would be to help the reader understand which characters we will really get to know and why we will come to care about them. Please know that I am a literary agent only for a day so my opinion may be taken with many grains of salt. I wish you all the best in securing other representation.
Regards,
R. Markiam
ludwig snarf says
i regret that we cannot help you
MonkBoy says
Thank you for your query submission, but I’m afraid we’re not interested in your material at this time.
Best of luck,
Placebo Publications
Linta says
Dear Author
Thank you for your submission. Unfortunately I’m not the right agent for you. Best of luck in finding your novel a home.
Regards
Agent for a day
[reasoning: nothing specifically against this book, but it didn’t grab me either.]
Livia says
Dear Author,
I would like to read more. Please send me a copy of your manuscript.
Livia
Laura Martone says
Dear Author:
Thank you for submitting your query for consideration. I appreciate the time, energy, and passion that it required to complete “Rosie’s Child”.
Unfortunately, given the thousands of queries that I receive annually, I can only request a small percentage of manuscripts for possible representation. While I find the subject matter of your novel intriguing, it does not meet my editorial needs at this time.
I am grateful for the opportunity to consider your work and wish you much luck in your future endeavors.
Sincerely,
Laura Martone
chris says
Please send pages.
Sincerely,
Lowly Scribe