Hope is a quietly spoken girl in her country. Riots are breaking out, and her family is barely keeping it together.
Her younger brother, Romeo, has lost the love of his life to the protesters, and has tried to take his own life ever since.
Her mother, Dove, has refused to speak since the death threat from a cruel politician and the day when her beloved husband, Frederick, has dropped into a coma. He hasn't woken up since three years ago.
Her blind but rich grandmother, Lady Tremaine, has always considered moving to another country since the new ruler has been elected, and now she is bent on moving away with Hope now, before the ruler stops anyone from migrating, ever. However, she decides to migrate with Hope and Hope only, leaving everyone else to fall prey to despair.
But she just wants Hope around to be her personal maid.
Hope and her brother, Victor, have to keep the family from breaking apart, while making sure that they don't shatter into a million pieces themselves.
Lady Tremaine wants to leave the country with Hope, and no one can change her mind easily. Dove keeps gambling without a cause. Romeo has attempted to relieve his family's burden by removing himself from the world, and it's becoming harder and harder to stop him.
They are barely hanging on, until Hope's beloved Victor suddenly disappears without a trace.
So now Hope is the only person her family has left.
She has to find her brother. Without him, Lady Tremaine will move with Hope, and leave everyone else here to meet their deaths.
Does Hope really have all the hope her family needs?
Or is she just a shadow of her brother?
Sorry for the story being on hold! I'm changing a lot of the content here...
Geoff and Naomi are dead, and they're depressed, but when Geoff's cat Bernie dies as well, they embark on a wild journey to find it in the underworld.
*****
When Geoff dies, alongside his girlfriend Naomi, they end up sharing an apartment in the Underworld as skeletons. But after a few years, Geoff starts suffering a mid-death crisis. What's the purpose of going through the motions as a skeleton if you can't really live? Then he gets word that his cat, Bernie, just died and he can collect him and bring him home! Geoff and Naomi hurry to get Bernie only to discover that, due to a clerical error, their cat has been lost. With the hunt for Bernie giving new purpose to Geoff's un-life, he and Naomi begin a quest to get back their cat. Battling skeleton pirates, climbing the sky ladder and facing off against the villain who took Bernie, Geoff is determined to find his purpose - or die a second time trying!
[[2018 Wattys Winner - The Originals]]
[[word count: 30,000-40,000 words]]