Writing
HAZEL DAVIES' GOOD GOODBYE
CONTEMPORARY FICTION | 79,000 WORDS | QUERYING
HAZEL DAVIES’ GOOD GOODBYE (79,000 words) is contemporary fiction. With a cozy coffee shop setting inspired by the bookstore in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry and a high-masking autistic protagonist in the vein of Flying Solo, the novel celebrates female entrepreneurship and neurodiversity.
Hazel Davies doesn’t enjoy change. Never has, never will. But when the decade-long commercial lease for her coffee shop expires at the same time Seamus, her college best friend and coffee shop employee, is moving, Hazel resolves to stop avoiding change and find her own new beginning by selling Hazel’s Brew.
Afraid Seamus will think he’s to blame, Hazel doesn’t tell him about selling. As long-dormant feelings resurface, Hazel channels all her energy into giving Seamus a world-class sendoff, including going all out on the shop’s annual Halloween party. When the creepy landlord declares his intention to buy her business, Hazel must walk the thin line between staying on good terms as a tenant and her innate desire to give an outright no, all the while keeping mum as she spends every waking minute with Seamus. But when the property manager makes an appearance at the Halloween party and reveals her plans, Hazel has to face the compounding costs of avoiding hard conversations or risk losing all she holds dear.
THE HOUSE WIFE
SPECULATIVE FICTION | 83,000 WORDS | REVISING
THE HOUSE WIFE (83,000 words) is speculative fiction with dual POV. For fans of the Nightbitch and The Need, THE HOUSE WIFE uses speculative elements to explore contemporary motherhood.
Home full-time caring for her one-year-old, August struggles with depression and chronic pain while also shouldering professional regret over closing her therapy practice. One night, a bright abyss appears in the basement and offers her rest. August enters the light. In an instant, she becomes fully merged with the house. Her head melds with the roof. Her feet become the foundation. Every inch of her body corresponds with every facet of the hundred-year-old home.
When her husband, Graham, is unable to find her, he also discovers the house isn’t the same. Cabinet doors move of their own volition. Something blurry whisks across the bathroom mirror. Graham’s anxiety heightens, fueled by a belief the house is possessed, never once suspecting it’s his wife. On a mission to undo her residential transformation, August uses her therapist skills of keen observation and deduction to understand the rules governing her new existence. Meanwhile, Graham tries to keep his head, care for their daughter, and navigate interactions with family, police, and local media. Witnessing her family devolve, August wants nothing more than to heal the internal forces that led to merging so she can come home.