Leopold

"We read to know we are not alone." - William Nicholson

Dedicated to Allie Isaacson, for reading every crappy story I have ever written since fifth grade, and to Ralph Waldo Emerson, for being the most badass, possibly gay, nineteenth century thinker who ever lived.

This is my novel for NaNoWriMo, which means I'll be writing it all through November. I'll try and update as much as possible, but, you know, it's going to be crazy.

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Genevieve Fannon loves reading. Which is, to say the least, an understatement. She lives and breathes good books - she'll ignore the world for days in order to live in a fictional one. Which is probably why she loves her job at  Waldo's so much, since she gets to spend every afternoon in the presence of books.

She is perfectly content with her life until everything starts happening at once - Waldo's is threatened with bankruptcy, and her favorite geneologist turned bookshop owner is forced to sleep on her couch. Her sister, Guinevere, decides that she wants to go punk rock. Liam, a lanky boy with a tendancy to flee in the middle of a conversation, starts showing up at the bookshop. And, just when Genevieve can't handle the world anymore, books by nineteenth century philosopher Leopold Alcaster-Smythe appear in the free book box.

Leopold knows exactly how to put Genevieve's feelings into words, and it becomes clear that this long-dead author is her soulmate. He knows her better than anyone.

Except, maybe, whoever is leaving the books for her to find.

When Genevieve finds that Leopold's final manuscript was left untouched, unpublished, somewhere, she will stop at nothing to find it.