When Billy scatters his wife’s ashes around the world it’s like he’s losing her all over again, until a chance meeting with a woman who might not be what she seems takes him on a different journey to find hope.

Hope is a Distant Hum is my first novel, written as part of the Faber Academy novel writing course. I am currently editing the book with the aim of submitting to literary agents for consideration.

Synopsis

Three months after his wife died, Billy emerges into a world where everything looks the same but, for him, everything is different. He has a promise to keep – Susie’s dying wish for her ashes to be scattered in their favourite places. Travelling first to the USA, then Australia, Southeast Asia and Egypt, he hopes that revisiting their past will in some way keep her in his life. But instead it uncovers buried memories and secrets Susie never shared, that lead him to the revelation that his choices over their 20-year relationship led inexorably to her death.

Alone and far from home, he’s about to give up on his promise, when an apparently chance meeting with Annie, a reckless former work colleague, leads him on a new journey to confront his grief. But as they travel on together, Billy realises Annie may not be what she seems. Somehow, he must find hope for a future without Susie, before he loses himself as well.

Hope is a Distant Hum is upmarket commercial fiction, about an emotional topic but with an upbeat, hopeful ending. It’s Matt Haig’s The Midnight Library meets The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce, with a nod to the classic movie Field of Dreams.