QUERY LETTER | Sea Reverie by Via Reel

I am seeking representation for SEA REVERIE, a literary novel complete at approximately 57,000 words.

The last thing nineteen-year-old Alex expected after her father's murder was to inherit his unfinished questions.

A gifted surfer growing up in Santa Cruz, Alex has spent months trying to outrun grief in the only way she knows how: by throwing herself into bigger waves, longer sessions, and the restless pursuit of the next horizon. Meanwhile, her mother retreats into silence, leaving Alex stranded between a past she cannot return to and a future she cannot imagine.

When Professor Shaw—a philosophy professor who knew her father better than Alex realizes—places an unfinished manuscript in her hands, Alex discovers a side of him she never knew existed. Hidden among travel journals, photographs, and field notes is the record of a man searching for something he never managed to find.

Encouraged by Shaw, Alex leaves California to follow the trail of places, people, and questions woven through the manuscript. She tells herself she is trying to understand her father. In truth, she is trying to escape becoming trapped by his loss.

As Alex moves through surf communities, friendships, rivalries, first loves, and distant coastlines, she begins to discover that every destination reveals something unexpected about herself. For the first time since her father's death, she feels the possibility of a life larger than grief.

But beneath the manuscript lies another story—one Professor Shaw has never fully shared. As Alex uncovers fragments of her father's past, Shaw becomes increasingly convinced that his death may not have been as random as everyone believed. The deeper Alex travels into her father's unfinished journey, the more both women are forced to confront questions neither of them can avoid: What do we owe the people we love? Is witnessing enough? And how do we move forward when the stories we've inherited no longer explain who we are?

SEA REVERIE combines the emotional journey of literary coming-of-age fiction with the rich world of surf culture, travel, and philosophical inquiry. It will appeal to readers who enjoy character-driven stories of transformation, belonging, and self-discovery.

I am a high school English teacher, writer, and longtime member of the surfing community. I co-founded two surfboard companies whose boards were sold internationally, and my decades-long connection to surf culture informs the world of SEA REVERIE. The novel is envisioned as the first book in the Left Reel series, which explores feminine becoming through the lives of surfer girls from different cultures around the world.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be honored to send the full manuscript.

Thank you for your time and consideration. I would be delighted to send the full manuscript.

Warmly,
V. Johnson
leftreel@gmail.com