Query: FOCUS, SAM

Dear Agent:

When Sameer Sathe, an eternal escapist, is told by a mystic that the reason he has an accident every year is a curse which can only be lifted by a woman he fell for, he begins his frantic quest to trace every single woman he at some point in life considered his soul-mate, and Sameer has just one year to do so, because his next accident could well be his last.

Sameer has a problem from childhood - his recurring accidents. At least one of his limbs was useless for a large part of the year and that made him a soft target in the school. Kids in similar situations almost always become miserable outcasts, but Sameer embraced his pariah status and is very proud of it. When a mystic tells him after his twenty fifth accident that there is a curse on him and that he will be dead after his next accident, Sameer believes his inconsequential life will surely end. However, there is a saviour – one of the women Sameer fell in love with. A woman, the sage says, Sameer has to find within a year.

One thing Sameer is extremely good at is staying below the radar. Get average grades, have no ambition, attach yourself to nothing and no one. The only thing he loves is books and believes his redemption is in literature. Now, Sameer has to confront his past in the most agonizing way – convincing all the women he fell for to allow him to intrude their lives for two weeks. The problem is, though he did fall in love with many women, not many women fell in love with him.

Sameer begins his quest, starting with the girl he promised to marry when they both were seven year olds to the woman who broke their engagement (he thinks she did it because he hates people who don't know who Hemmingway is), he reconnects with all of them. After living with every woman, he realizes that he affected their lives profoundly and in a terrible way. Sameer has just two weeks to perhaps undo the damage he caused. Every woman reveals secrets about Sameer making him realize what the most important things in life are.

Is Sameer able to rid himself of the curse?

My 78,000 words ladlit FOCUS, SAM, will appeal to the readers of Nick Hornby.

Would you like to see the sample chapters?

Kind regards,
Rohit Gore