Manuscript Status: Finished
Mentor Name: Alexandra Alessandri
Mentee Name: Suzi Guina
Title: SISTERS OF THE SEA
Category: Middle Grade
Genre: Contemporary Fantasy
Word Count: 60,000
Pitch:
While visiting Faial, twelve-year-old Isabel learns she’s descended from Portuguese mermaids and can transform. But the legacy has a darker side. When her great-grandmother’s prophesies of natural disasters leave her gravely ill, Isabel turns to the mermaids before she loses Vis-Avó forever.
Excerpt:
Isabel scanned her bookshelf, looking for more books to pack. She should bring something she hadn’t already read for their eight weeks in Faial. But she kept coming back to her old favorites. The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland. Inkheart. Goblet of Fire. Isabel hugged them to her chest, inhaling the familiar smell of the paper. If she couldn’t have Amelia with her this summer, at least she could have September, Meggie, and Hermione.
Except, for once, they didn’t seem like enough. Not quite.
Isabel’s stomach twisted. I hope Amelia makes it over before we leave.
Her eyes drifted to the open album on her bed. Isabel dropped her comfort reads on her backpack and flipped through her mom’s pictures again, lingering on images of black-sand beaches and windswept waves, seaside cottages and smiling Portuguese relatives she’d never met. Faial.
Would they smile that way at her?
She stopped at a photo of a dark mountain hunched in a bleak, gray landscape with a lone, lean tower rising from it. Farol, her mom had written. It might as well have been hieroglyphics.
“Isabel!”
Isabel whirled around as Amelia walked in holding two brightly wrapped packages.
“You made it!” Isabel shoved her backpack and album aside for Amelia.
“I can’t stay. My mom’s waiting outside, but I wanted to bring you a present.” Amelia held out one of the packages. “Open this one now. The other one’s for later.”
Isabel tore open the sparkly paper, and a lump rose in her throat when she saw what it was.
3 Comments
Melissa Nasson · November 4, 2016 at 1:48 pm
I’m intrigued! Please send the first 50 pages as a Word doc or PDF to melissa@rpcontent.com, and be sure to include “Pitch Wars” in the subject line. Please also include your query in the body of the email.
Thank you!
Melissa Nasson
Rubin Pfeffer Content
Patricia Nelson · November 4, 2016 at 5:36 pm
I can’t wait to see more of this! Please send a query (in the body of the email) plus the full manuscript as a Word doc attachment to patricia@marsallyonliteraryagency.com, and make sure to put “Pitch Wars Request” and the title in the subject line.
Looking forward to reading!
Sue · November 11, 2016 at 7:34 pm
I’d love to take a look!! I’m always intrigued when I see a Portuguese reference. Please send to sue@donaghyliterary.com with Pitch Wars – TITLE – GENRE. Thank you!!
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