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Author name: Mara Ellison
Status: Fictional demonstration author created for the Casover sample project.
Working title: The Things We Never Said
Fiction or non-fiction: Fiction
Form: Novel
Target length: Approximately 55,000 words
Primary genre: Contemporary fiction
Secondary genre: Family drama / light mystery
Target audience and age group: Adult readers who enjoy accessible contemporary fiction centred on family relationships, hidden history, emotional tension and a modest mystery element. No specialist genre knowledge is assumed.
Publishing objective: To produce a polished, commercially presentable independent novel suitable for professional self-publishing while preserving a character-led, emotionally grounded tone.
Author intention: The book should feel like a family drama first and a mystery second. The hidden past should create tension and forward movement, but the emotional question is more important than solving a puzzle.
Tone: Warm, observant and emotionally restrained, with occasional humour. Avoid melodrama, crime-thriller conventions and excessive sentimentality.
Intended reader experience: The reader should care about the central family relationships, gradually understand why the family has avoided discussing one particular event, and feel that the final revelation changes the meaning of earlier scenes without invalidating them.
Principal characters:
Anna Mercer, 38
A secondary-school English teacher who has recently separated from her husband. Practical, self-contained and habitually responsible. She returns to her childhood town after her mother's fall and becomes the principal viewpoint character.
Rose Mercer, 68