This query is from Perri for the novel Left of Unsaid. Thank you Perri for the honour of allowing me to work on and post this!
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ORIGINAL QUERY
As far as the Orange Lake Sheriff’s concerned Hap Taskett’s death is an open and shut case: heart attack. But for Hap’s daughters, there’s nothing simple about it. Wild Claudette, the eldest, was with him when he died. Though she won’t share details about the incident, she insists she killed him. Eighteen year old Leanne fears the answers her questions might bring. Once inseparable, the sisters can’t hold a civil conversation.
With their father’s last project, a decrepit motel, crumbling around them in the slick North Florida heat, they make separate plans for escape. Claudette hooks up with a petty criminal in a truck stop and sleeps her way to “somewhere cold.” Leanne plans for college, marriage and all the trappings of a normal life, but she has a secret of her own: she is pregnant and freefalling out of love with her good-hearted fiancé.
When Citra Starke, as much a part of Orange Lake as the blue-tailed skinks, appears on her doorstep, Leanne is willing to take her in as a sort of surrogate sister. But Citra’s motives are not what they seem. When Leanne discovers the truth, she must make the sort of leap she’s never dreamed of, track her missing sister and piece together the details of her father’s life and death if she is to salvage what’s left of her tattered family.
Left of Unsaid is complete at 84,000 words. It is contemporary fiction, an edgier, Southern “Where the Heart Is.” It is told in alternating points of view.
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GOBLIN-EDIT
As far as the Orange Lake Sheriff is concerned, Hap Taskett’s death was a heart attack, but for Hap’s youngest daughter Leanne, it's not that simple. Her elder sister Claudette was with Hap when he died, and although she won’t share the details, Claudette insists she killed him. Leanne is afraid to dig deeper, and although once inseparable, the sisters now can’t hold a civil conversation.
With their father's decrepit motel crumbling around them in the slick North Florida heat, they make separate plans for escape. Claudette hooks up with a petty criminal in a truck stop and sleeps her way to “somewhere cold.” Leanne plans for college, marriage and all the trappings of a normal life despite her own secret: she is pregnant and freefalling out of love with her good-hearted fiancé.
When Citra Starke, an eccentric as much a part of Orange Lake as the blue-tailed skinks, appears on her doorstep, Leanne takes her in as a surrogate sister, but Citra’s motives are not what they seem. When Leanne discovers [something specific], she must face her terror of her family's tattered history and track her missing sister to piece together the details of their father’s life and death.
Left of Unsaid is contemporary fiction, an edgier, Southern Where the Heart Is, and complete at 84,000 words. Thank you for your time and attention; I hope to hear from you soon.
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