Coming Up for Air

A HISTORICAL NOVEL WITH COMMERCIAL APPEAL: This novel bridges the literary and the commercial. A moving and exquisitely written story of love and loss, it features three extraordinary lives that prove to be inextricably linked against all the odds, with powerful consequences. Coming Up for Air is perfect for fans of Marilynne Robinson, Maggie O‘Farrell, Jane Urqhuart, and those who loved The Last Wave by Gillian Best and A Whole Life by Robert Seethaler. MEDIAGENIC AND WELL-CONNECTED AUTHOR: Sarah Leipciger is a delight, very well spoken and experienced. She will be brilliant at events and is available for touring. She has great contacts in the U.K. and Canada. We already have commitments for blurbs from Maggie O‘Farrell, Francis Spufford, and Mark Haddon. More blurbs coming soon. SPECIAL OUTREACH TO ORGANIZATIONS: We will seize on marketing opportunities with organizations that will be interested in this novel‘s strong nonfiction hook. (Spoiler alert: Anouk, the protagonist of the 1980s storyline survives her CF long enough to be a candidate for a lung transplant because of the scientific advances of the last century, specifically the development of the plastic mannequins used to teach CPR. The CPR mannequin has a face modelled after that of L‘Inconnue; Amund, the Norwegian toymaker seeking to make sense of the tragic drowning of his own son, uses her death mask when he uses modern plastics to realize his vision for the mannequin, thereby playing a part in a discovery that will save thousands of lives.) Organizations we will approach include: the Cystic Fybrosis Foundation in the U.S.; regional lung health associations; groups that encourage and facilitate organ donation, such as Donate Life America; and groups that teach CPR, including the American Heart Association.