Query:THE OUTBACK GRACE MOTEL UpmarketFiction
Posted: August 30th, 2022, 8:11 am
THE OUTBACK GRACE MOTEL
Some people run from their lives.
Some people run for their lives.
Refugees know the difference.
When the Privileged meet the Powerless somebody’s life will change.
John Moradi has never felt anything other than American. He is the celebrity chef with the hottest eatery in LA. Out of the blue, his father informs him that John’s cousin, whom he has never met has become a refugee. The boat that has smuggled Hamid Moradi away has vanished off the Australian coast. John seizes the chance to escape his own legal troubles and searches for Hamid. In an Outback Motel he joins a group of strangers. Each of the five guests is there for a purpose. Their secrets, delusions, crimes and magic are exposed. They reveal the difference between the way we picture ourselves and the complexities of who we really are. What happens to Hamid is the catalyst for the transformation of these Motel guests.
Word Count 80,000
‘Big Little Lies’ meets ‘White Lotus’ with speculative elements.
Hello
I am so excited that you nurture debut authors and by the literary themes that you seek in your Manuscript Wishlist! They reflect the ideas conveyed in “The Outback Grace Motel” and makes you my ‘Moon-shot’ agent.
All the mainstays of a Thriller can be found in this character-driven Book Club Fiction manuscript. It contains the search for a vanished refugee, speculative elements, the spirits of the Outback and an attempted (successful?) murder. This manuscript would sit well alongside Hermione Hoby’s “Virtue” with mystical elements, “Nine Perfect Strangers” Liane Moriarty and the scope of themes in Jodi Picoult’s novels. Rather lofty ambitions but I shall let you be the judge.
Synopsis:
THE OUTBACK GRACE MOTEL
‘If you stay long enough compassion and mercy may just find you here.’
John flees LA to escape the criminal allegation made against him. He heads to the Australian Outback in search of Hamid.
But, is John guilty? Not even he can be sure.
A conflagrating sun rules this red dirt country and a river called Katherine flows through the town. The lonely figures of the Grey-Ghost Gumtrees are the quiet witnesses of this land. They look out accusingly at the razor wire and steel meshed fences of a Refugee Detention Centre. The Outback can be a mysterious and unnerving place. A land where a presence, a shadow not your own, walks in the silence alongside you.
There, John Moradi meets four disparate strangers at a Roadhouse Motel: Bob Everton, the BBC investigative journalist, Kaitlynn Zhang, the human rights lawyer, Scott Hoffnagel, the Refugee Facilities manager and Rebekkah, the activist. Some are there to seek salvation for others, some for themselves.
Hamid tries to hold on to hope amidst the suffocating boredom, the isolation and the threat of violence of the Detention Centre. The refugee has become one of the forsaken. As he meets other detainees his confinement alternately becomes more tolerable and more dangerous to himself.
Peculiar things start to happen around Hamid. Everyone who comes into contact with him experiences some form of change. Before anyone can get to the bottom of Hamid’s alchemical enigma a horrific dust storm envelopes the town. In its aftermath Hamid’s body is located outside the Detention Centre. Suffering heinous injuries, the refugee is put in a medically induced coma.
All of a sudden the Press, the politicians, the public and the police become interested in Hamid’s fate. Who has assaulted him, who has tried to kill him? Is the culprit another refugee or is it a Detention guard? Is there a shadowy intersection of politics and commerce at play?
My name is B*** H****. I am an ex-Chef de Cuisine (Michelin accolade) and a passionate lyricist/songwriter/musician. I have lived in Australia as a migrant for a big part of my life and worked for years in the Middle East.
I fervently hope this story is of interest to you and thank you for your time
sincerely Bernhard Hagen
Some people run from their lives.
Some people run for their lives.
Refugees know the difference.
When the Privileged meet the Powerless somebody’s life will change.
John Moradi has never felt anything other than American. He is the celebrity chef with the hottest eatery in LA. Out of the blue, his father informs him that John’s cousin, whom he has never met has become a refugee. The boat that has smuggled Hamid Moradi away has vanished off the Australian coast. John seizes the chance to escape his own legal troubles and searches for Hamid. In an Outback Motel he joins a group of strangers. Each of the five guests is there for a purpose. Their secrets, delusions, crimes and magic are exposed. They reveal the difference between the way we picture ourselves and the complexities of who we really are. What happens to Hamid is the catalyst for the transformation of these Motel guests.
Word Count 80,000
‘Big Little Lies’ meets ‘White Lotus’ with speculative elements.
Hello
I am so excited that you nurture debut authors and by the literary themes that you seek in your Manuscript Wishlist! They reflect the ideas conveyed in “The Outback Grace Motel” and makes you my ‘Moon-shot’ agent.
All the mainstays of a Thriller can be found in this character-driven Book Club Fiction manuscript. It contains the search for a vanished refugee, speculative elements, the spirits of the Outback and an attempted (successful?) murder. This manuscript would sit well alongside Hermione Hoby’s “Virtue” with mystical elements, “Nine Perfect Strangers” Liane Moriarty and the scope of themes in Jodi Picoult’s novels. Rather lofty ambitions but I shall let you be the judge.
Synopsis:
THE OUTBACK GRACE MOTEL
‘If you stay long enough compassion and mercy may just find you here.’
John flees LA to escape the criminal allegation made against him. He heads to the Australian Outback in search of Hamid.
But, is John guilty? Not even he can be sure.
A conflagrating sun rules this red dirt country and a river called Katherine flows through the town. The lonely figures of the Grey-Ghost Gumtrees are the quiet witnesses of this land. They look out accusingly at the razor wire and steel meshed fences of a Refugee Detention Centre. The Outback can be a mysterious and unnerving place. A land where a presence, a shadow not your own, walks in the silence alongside you.
There, John Moradi meets four disparate strangers at a Roadhouse Motel: Bob Everton, the BBC investigative journalist, Kaitlynn Zhang, the human rights lawyer, Scott Hoffnagel, the Refugee Facilities manager and Rebekkah, the activist. Some are there to seek salvation for others, some for themselves.
Hamid tries to hold on to hope amidst the suffocating boredom, the isolation and the threat of violence of the Detention Centre. The refugee has become one of the forsaken. As he meets other detainees his confinement alternately becomes more tolerable and more dangerous to himself.
Peculiar things start to happen around Hamid. Everyone who comes into contact with him experiences some form of change. Before anyone can get to the bottom of Hamid’s alchemical enigma a horrific dust storm envelopes the town. In its aftermath Hamid’s body is located outside the Detention Centre. Suffering heinous injuries, the refugee is put in a medically induced coma.
All of a sudden the Press, the politicians, the public and the police become interested in Hamid’s fate. Who has assaulted him, who has tried to kill him? Is the culprit another refugee or is it a Detention guard? Is there a shadowy intersection of politics and commerce at play?
My name is B*** H****. I am an ex-Chef de Cuisine (Michelin accolade) and a passionate lyricist/songwriter/musician. I have lived in Australia as a migrant for a big part of my life and worked for years in the Middle East.
I fervently hope this story is of interest to you and thank you for your time
sincerely Bernhard Hagen