Hi all,
After recently getting a wonderful rejection (!) from Anne at Quercus (an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton) for my Victorian horror/weird fic, The Pegge and the Pendrel, I've been motivated to find an agent or publisher. As the story is quite complex, the first sub (for Gollancz) was 1.2k and a hot mess (probably).
I've been reworking it and wondered how this reads. I feel like there's a huge disparity between the skills of a speculative author and the ability to synopsise one's own novel. Well, at least for me there is.
Please let me know your thoughts, thank you.
In 1850s East London, three characters navigate personal curses, supernatural forces, and the shifting social dynamics of the time.
Little Nissy Simpson, a young cresser-girl with the ability to smell emotional pain, becomes entwined in a series of dark events after her two sisters disappear from Henrietta Burwood’s infamous match factory. Nissy, struggling with feelings of insignificance and a desire for her name to be recognised, discovers a secret water-meadow which holds all the watercress she could ever wish to sell, but her attempt to keep it hidden leads to the accidental death of a boy. As she grapples with guilt, she uncovers disturbing secrets about the factory’s workers.
Henrietta Burwood, a strong-willed businesswoman, is managing both the matchworks and her other factory, the Masthouse Tannery. She faces constant misogyny and has to navigate the new factory regulations while keeping her dark dealings hidden. Meanwhile, her somewhat inept fiancé, Crawford Bartley, seeks Henrietta’s hand in marriage from her eccentric uncle, Ned Ackley, who is connected to a mysterious family curse tied to the Anglo-Ashanti Wars. After learning of the curse, Crawford is troubled by strange green apparitions of children, but his troubles grow when he returns to find Henrietta more distant, having grown suspicious and paranoid. At Lord Volpierre’s Hengontide fair, Crawford and Nissy meet and form an unlikely connection.
Nissy through her friendship with a neighbour, a prostitute named Patty, finds a women’s support group run by the kindly but mysterious Abbess, called "The Angels." Here, Nissy learns of factory corruption and the exploitation of factory children by the matchworks. On their instructions, she follows Absolom Shrike, a monstrous tannery manager, and discovers that Henrietta is behind the disappearances of factory workers, using their bodies for grisly purposes.
Later, Henrietta learns of a charity founded by her friend, Lord Shaftesbury.
Accepting an invitation from her Uncle, Ned Ackley, Henrietta visits Marcombe, to see if the new charity Lord Shaftesbury has founded, might be of help to her. Whilst there, Uncle Ned explains the cursed stone used to build some of the match factory and the tannery, and persuades her to sell the tannery. At Marcombe she reconnects with Lazarus Rocke, Lord Shaftesbury’s business partner, her childhood friend who has returned from the States and is planning on launching the initiative over there. As their bond grows, Henrietta is drawn into a strange world, hearing an encouraging disembodied voice.
Nissy, reeling from supernatural attacks and her own guilt at the accidental killing of the boy, flees. She learns that the "Angels" and their Abbess were apparitions, and their base is merely a derelict pub.
She confronts the terrifying truth: Henrietta and Crawford are involved in murder and dark rituals, and she must deal with them herself. Nissy plans to expose the horrors she has uncovered.
Whilst walking around Marcombe estate, Henrietta has a strange encounter with a rotten brigantine berthed in the lake. She almost drowns but is rescued by Lazarus. This weighs heavy on her mental state, causing intense fugue states and she struggles with her fractured reality.
Nissy, her best friend, steeplejack Wash, and Apollo, a Ghanaian steward from the Marcombe estate, uncover evidence of Henrietta's crimes. Nissy’s initially distraught when she believes she's being set up to take the fall for murder but ultimately joins forces with Crawford and Wash to bring Henrietta to justice. Henrietta, meanwhile, is plagued by visions of ancestor Lucy Burwood and is haunted by reanimated corpses of dead Ghanaians during her travels on the ghostly brigantine. She is not sure if these are working in her favour or not.
As Nissy, Wash, and Apollo work to gather evidence, a catastrophic explosion at the matchworks seemingly kills them. Henrietta discovers her fugue states were real and that she has run to the United States with Lazarus to escape retribution regarding the cursed stone. The voice she has been hearing is that of her dead ancestor Lucy Burwood, and reassures her she has more work to do.
Ten years later, Crawford, now a patient in Bedlam Hospital following his breakdown and shame over his responsibility for Nissy’s death, is ecstatic to see that she’s alive. She has taken over Volpierre’s fair with Absolom, and her dream of leaving a lasting legacy has come true, her name prominently displayed in advertisements.
After recently getting a wonderful rejection (!) from Anne at Quercus (an imprint of Hodder and Stoughton) for my Victorian horror/weird fic, The Pegge and the Pendrel, I've been motivated to find an agent or publisher. As the story is quite complex, the first sub (for Gollancz) was 1.2k and a hot mess (probably).
I've been reworking it and wondered how this reads. I feel like there's a huge disparity between the skills of a speculative author and the ability to synopsise one's own novel. Well, at least for me there is.
Please let me know your thoughts, thank you.
In 1850s East London, three characters navigate personal curses, supernatural forces, and the shifting social dynamics of the time.
Little Nissy Simpson, a young cresser-girl with the ability to smell emotional pain, becomes entwined in a series of dark events after her two sisters disappear from Henrietta Burwood’s infamous match factory. Nissy, struggling with feelings of insignificance and a desire for her name to be recognised, discovers a secret water-meadow which holds all the watercress she could ever wish to sell, but her attempt to keep it hidden leads to the accidental death of a boy. As she grapples with guilt, she uncovers disturbing secrets about the factory’s workers.
Henrietta Burwood, a strong-willed businesswoman, is managing both the matchworks and her other factory, the Masthouse Tannery. She faces constant misogyny and has to navigate the new factory regulations while keeping her dark dealings hidden. Meanwhile, her somewhat inept fiancé, Crawford Bartley, seeks Henrietta’s hand in marriage from her eccentric uncle, Ned Ackley, who is connected to a mysterious family curse tied to the Anglo-Ashanti Wars. After learning of the curse, Crawford is troubled by strange green apparitions of children, but his troubles grow when he returns to find Henrietta more distant, having grown suspicious and paranoid. At Lord Volpierre’s Hengontide fair, Crawford and Nissy meet and form an unlikely connection.
Nissy through her friendship with a neighbour, a prostitute named Patty, finds a women’s support group run by the kindly but mysterious Abbess, called "The Angels." Here, Nissy learns of factory corruption and the exploitation of factory children by the matchworks. On their instructions, she follows Absolom Shrike, a monstrous tannery manager, and discovers that Henrietta is behind the disappearances of factory workers, using their bodies for grisly purposes.
Later, Henrietta learns of a charity founded by her friend, Lord Shaftesbury.
Accepting an invitation from her Uncle, Ned Ackley, Henrietta visits Marcombe, to see if the new charity Lord Shaftesbury has founded, might be of help to her. Whilst there, Uncle Ned explains the cursed stone used to build some of the match factory and the tannery, and persuades her to sell the tannery. At Marcombe she reconnects with Lazarus Rocke, Lord Shaftesbury’s business partner, her childhood friend who has returned from the States and is planning on launching the initiative over there. As their bond grows, Henrietta is drawn into a strange world, hearing an encouraging disembodied voice.
Nissy, reeling from supernatural attacks and her own guilt at the accidental killing of the boy, flees. She learns that the "Angels" and their Abbess were apparitions, and their base is merely a derelict pub.
She confronts the terrifying truth: Henrietta and Crawford are involved in murder and dark rituals, and she must deal with them herself. Nissy plans to expose the horrors she has uncovered.
Whilst walking around Marcombe estate, Henrietta has a strange encounter with a rotten brigantine berthed in the lake. She almost drowns but is rescued by Lazarus. This weighs heavy on her mental state, causing intense fugue states and she struggles with her fractured reality.
Nissy, her best friend, steeplejack Wash, and Apollo, a Ghanaian steward from the Marcombe estate, uncover evidence of Henrietta's crimes. Nissy’s initially distraught when she believes she's being set up to take the fall for murder but ultimately joins forces with Crawford and Wash to bring Henrietta to justice. Henrietta, meanwhile, is plagued by visions of ancestor Lucy Burwood and is haunted by reanimated corpses of dead Ghanaians during her travels on the ghostly brigantine. She is not sure if these are working in her favour or not.
As Nissy, Wash, and Apollo work to gather evidence, a catastrophic explosion at the matchworks seemingly kills them. Henrietta discovers her fugue states were real and that she has run to the United States with Lazarus to escape retribution regarding the cursed stone. The voice she has been hearing is that of her dead ancestor Lucy Burwood, and reassures her she has more work to do.
Ten years later, Crawford, now a patient in Bedlam Hospital following his breakdown and shame over his responsibility for Nissy’s death, is ecstatic to see that she’s alive. She has taken over Volpierre’s fair with Absolom, and her dream of leaving a lasting legacy has come true, her name prominently displayed in advertisements.
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