A couple of changes to my Nanowrimo manuscript. The first is a name change from the working title of The Run, to Seth. The second is a temporary cover as shown here.

And the third is to the synopsis.

The unusual circumstances of his birth and his inability to speak make Seth Donaldson a prime target for abuse and bullying and his childhood is one of isolation, until he is befriended by the local newsagent, one of the few shops remaining open in a rural town of diminishing population. With his father’s death comes a change of fortune that sets in motion a chain of tragedies that enshrouds the town in grief and suspicion. The increased ostracism that results makes him easy prey for a predatory socio-path, seeking revenge for imagined slights and his own social inadequacies, and he adopts a submissive role in the abuse as a means of survival. When another of his tormentor’s victims is discarded in his cellar, believed dead, Seth nurses her back to health and they plot their escape. The only question is who will do the killing and when. 


Sneak peek Chapter twenty-two

Seth didn’t know what to do. The woman was awake and staring at him. At first he’d thought she was going to laugh, then her eyes sort of bulged and her mouth screwed up and just when he thought she was going to speak, all that came out were these odd clicking sounds. He was afraid now. It had all seemed manageable when she was unconscious, but now he felt shy. He didn’t like her looking at him and turned away from her gaze, panic rising in short gasps in his chest. His mind raced from one unfinished thought to the next and taunted him with repetitions as it always did when he was confronted by the unexpected – what to do, what to do – it chanted. It was neither question nor answer and he knew if he didn’t bring the panic under control quickly, there’d be no room in his mind for any clear thought and that was dangerous.