Updated query letter...

My query letter keeps getting changed, slightly, every time I send it out. The basics are the same, but some details shift and it gets a bit tighter each time. This is the first cover I came up with...and I still think it rocks...

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My three volume novel, A Place of Safety, is the story of Brendan Kinsella, a lad who just wants to live his life. But he was born and raised in Derry, Northern Ireland, and history repeatedly interferes with his plans. 

Told in first person, volume one, Derry, begins in 1966, when Brendan has just turned ten and his father is murdered. Thought of as simple but with an innate ability to repair things, he tries to forge his own path through a society in thrall to history and the Catholic church, and which is caught in growing demands for civil rights. He also forms a relationship with a Protestant girl...a relationship that must be kept secret from all family and friends, for fear of reprisals. 

The story sweeps through... 

 · the 1968 Civil Rights demonstrations in Derry 

 · the attack on peaceful marchers at Burntollet Bridge in early 1969 

 · the lead-up to The Battle of Bogside in August of that year 

 · the arrival of British troops to separate the two warring sides 

 · the re-introduction of internment in 1971 

 · Bloody Sunday in 1972 

 ...and ends with him being seriously injured by a horrific bombing in October, that year.

Below, I have included the opening chapter in my query. (This comes out if they don't want that.)

Volume 2, New World for Old, is set between 1973 and 1981. Thanks to that bombing, Brendan is in a catatonic state. It is feared the British will think he helped plan and set the bomb, so he is stashed away under an assumed name at his aunt's home in Houston, Texas, to keep him safe as he recovers. Once healed, he tries to build a life in Houston but finds that area's politics, hates and prejudices are not much different from Derry. I just finished a fifth draft and plan to do a polish. 

In volume 3, Home not Home, his mother is dying so he is called back to Derry. It is during the turmoil of hunger strikes of 1981. He learns surprising things about his father, is betrayed to the British army, is brutally interrogated, and finally has to accept his destiny. I am currently working on a third draft of this part.

The story uses true events to be told, much like James Clavell's Shogun, James Michener's Texas and Leon Uris' Trinity have done. While I have self-published 14 books in both print and ebook, both gay and straight, I would like to situate A Place of Safety with a mainstream publisher to avoid the limitations that come with self-publishing. I am hoping you can assist me with this. 

Thank you for considering A Place of Safety. I believe it will align perfectly with your interests. 

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Still pluggin' along...