ALT D-6 : Phoebe Fogg and the Lost Library

Name: Gayleen Rabakukk
Mentor: Heidi Schultz
Title: PHOEBE FOGG AND THE LOST LIBRARY
Genre: MG Steampunk
Word count: 35,000

PITCH:

When eleven-year-old Phoebe Fogg stows away on her father's airship expedition to discover the Lost Library of Alexandria, she comes face to face with a villain who has sinister plans for the Library's secrets.

FIRST 250 WORDS:

Phoebe ran her fingers over the dusty shelves, searching for excitement. She’d finished the latest edition of The Strand and it would be weeks before the next one made it across the Atlantic. She had instructed Minnick, the butler, to fetch her the instant the magazine arrived by post, instead of including it with the mail presented to Aunt Catherine. Phoebe hoped he would comply, instead of “forgetting” again. Were the gears and springs spinning inside his head capable of forgetting?

Phoebe returned her attention to the bookshelf. Surely H.G. Wells would write another novel soon. Her hand lingered on Around the World in 80 Days, but she’d read it again just last month. Better to explore new territory.

A dark leather volume caught her eye and Phoebe pulled the book out to look at its cover. She recognized the design from the sign outside the Lodge Hall: an open compass positioned atop a carpenters’ square ruler turned on at angle like the letter v. Her fingers tingled as she touched the embossed surface of the famous Freemason symbol and wondered about the secrets hidden within the pages.

How had she missed this before? In the year since she’d come to Aunt Catherine’s Boston townhome, she had scoured the drawing room shelves hundreds of times. She smoothed her pesky petticoats, sat on the floor, and carefully opened the cover. Phoebe gasped at the inscription on the fly leaf: Personal Journal of Benjamin Franklin.

1 comment:

  1. Hi Gayleen, I'd like to see a query, synopsis, and first 50 pages. Please email me at rachel.queries {at} irenegoodman.com and please put "REQUESTED-PITCH WARS" in the subject line.

    ReplyDelete

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