Monday, July 27, 2015

New Agent 18: HOMING PIGEON, YA Historical

Title: Homing Pigeon
Word count: 75,000
Genre: YA Historical

Query:

Ten months into the Great War, fifteen-year-old Ashley's brother Jack enlists in the Army. That very same night, as incendiary bombs rain down from a German Zeppelin and flames lick the cobblestone streets of White Chapel, Ashley watches Jack run terrified into the darkness. So she hatches a plan. She will shear her hair, steal his kit, and assume his identity. She will save him by taking his place as a trench runner in France.

But merely going to war is not enough. Ashley must learn navigation, marksmanship, and soldierly obedience--all while binding her chest and hiding her period from the boys. Every day at the Front is a battle just to survive, but Ashley wants to do more than live. She strives to be the best, hoping that she might someday be the one to deliver a crucial message and end the war.

Thus begins her journey through the poppy fields of Belgium and France, fraught with terror, injury, and the near constant threat of exposure, but also friendship more exquisite than any she has read about in her beloved Dickens. It is a journey which ends by the banks of the River Somme, where she realizes that it was never Jack who she was meant to save.

First 250 words:

Sometimes I linger longer than I ought—leaning on the fence whilst the boys play football, shirts and skins—long enough that Mary Ellen and her gaggle of cackling hens pass by on their way home from the Upper School.

“Look at her there,” her shrill voice crows, right on cue. “Lusting after the boys like she could ever catch an eye. Are those your brother’s old rags you’re wearing, or did you steal them off some poor lad’s wash line?”

Resisting the urge to face them, I don't run my fingers through the unruly mop of hair I tied up before this morning’s scrubbing. I don’t touch the frayed seems of my hand-me-down trousers in shame.

When I was still at school, I thought only of how I longed to join the boys upon the field of play. But since The Great War began a year ago, I can’t help thinking how one day soon this field will lie vacant, or else be turned over to marching drills and war games, as one by one they join up and leave Whitechapel far behind. But I will still be left here: standing and watching.

“Book in her hand like she’s had enough schooling to be half-literate,” Mary Ellen adds when I don’t rise to the bait. 

“Why Mary Ellen Wheelwright,” I say, not taking my eyes off the football scrimmage, “I had no idea the purpose of Upper School was to finally teach you girls how to read.”

8 comments:

  1. I'd love to see this. Could you send the full to mallory@triadaus.com as a PDF? Thanks!

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  2. I'd love to see more! Please send the first 25 pages in an attached word document to queries at azantianlitagency dot com along with your query and a 1-2 page synopsis. For the subject line, please use Requested Material and the title of your manuscript. Thank you!

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  3. I'd really like to see more of this please. Could you please send the first three chapters and a brief synopsis as a word document. Plus a paragraph or so about yourself in the body of the email over to julieacrisp@gmail.com. Thanks!

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  4. I'd love to see more of this. Please send the first 5 chapters to query(at)corvisieroagency(dot)com and please put Attn: Cate #NewAgent Request in the subject.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Interested in seeing more!
    In the body of the email, include your query along with a brief biography noting other projects (wip), if applicable. As a word document attachment, forward the first 20 pages.
    In the subject line note "New Agent Request".
    Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'd like to see more! Please send your first 50, with query pasted on the first page, to query at newleafliterary dot com, subject line New Agent Request: Danielle. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm a ninja agent! Would really love to see more of this. Please send query letter with 1 page synopsis and the first 25 pages (all copy and pasted into the body of the email, no attachments) to thao(at)dijkstraagency(dot)com. For the subject line please include #NewAgent and your title.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ninja agent Clelia Gore here! Would love to see the first 50. Please send in Word doc format to Clelia@martinliterarymanagement.com with the query. Please indicate "New Agent Contest" in the re: line. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete