Miriam Forster (msforster on QT) has signed with agent Jennifer Laughran of Andrea Brown Literary Agency.
At the time I was reading a novel about the early life of Guinevere (before she met King Arthur) and I remember that there was a mention in the book about Guinevere being "groomed" for someone. I thought the idea of being raised specifically for one person was so intriguing that I began to construct a world around it. Soon after I became fascinated by the life of geishas in Japan, and the sheltered, structured world they lived in. All those things kind of came together to make the idea of the Houses.
Dear Ms. Laughran,
Nisha Arvi is a casteless orphan in an empire where caste and tradition are as unchanging as the roof of gray sky above her head. The only exception is the Houses of a Thousand Dolls, an estate where abandoned girls are trained to be anything from assassins to courtesans to nobleman's wives.
Nisha is not so lucky. When she finds out that the Houses want to sell her as a slave, and also that they are hiding a series of mysterious deaths among the girls, Nisha makes a desperate bargain. If she can find the killer, she'll have a chance at a caste and a future.
But it won't be easy, because in the Houses of a Thousand Dolls missteps are as easy as wearing the wrong robe. And when Nisha suspects her best friend of the murders, she puts both of their futures in jeopardy.
The Houses of a Thousand Dolls is a 57,000 word young adult fantasy based on East Asian culture and lore. I queried you partly because I know you are the agent for Magic Under Glass by Jackie Dolamore, and I thought you might be interested in another multicultural fantasy. I also queried you because I follow you on Twitter and have a bit of a pet-crush on your dog, Moxie. :)
I have enclosed the first ten pages as per your submission guidelines. The whole manuscript is available upon request.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Miriam S. Forster