Query

Hi,

I am seeking representation for my literary novel BACK SEAT IN FRONT ROW (170,000 words). It is while traveling, but not a travel narrative. Its core unfolds across Germany, Belarus, Russia, the United States, Portugal, massive Italian impact, Mallorca, Israel, Finnland and Dubai functioning as a late emotional counterpoint rather than a primary setting.

BACK SEAT IN FRONT ROW follows Anna, a woman who has spent her life as a mother and housekeeper and now believes she has finally reached a phase of calm detachment. Sitting in a café in Lüneburg, she feels physically strong, financially secure, and convinced that nothing more will be demanded of her. But when her adult son announces his engagement and asks her to accompany him to Belarus, she is pulled back into a role she never chose — and never truly left.

The journey to Minsk, and later to Italy, triggers a quiet drift: present events blur into episodes of her past, opening windows onto the paths she might have taken. New places spark curiosity; familiar ones reflect decisions she believed long settled. Between responsibility and disinterest, Anna slips into a spectator role she does not master — and is forced to confront herself with unexpected clarity.

Italy is Anna’s great love — its art, its contradictions, its noise and silence — yet she experiences it from the back seat of an SUV, trapped between her son and his fiancée. Determined to protect her memories of Vivaldi, Tizian, and the waiter Lorenzo, she watches Venice, Florence, Rome, and Taormina collide with the blunt perception of youth. Small frictions accumulate: blisters, misunderstandings, shifting loyalties. Driving the Amalfitana, Anna realizes how fragile postcard beauty becomes when confronted with real proximity.

Anna is not built for passive participation. At a business meeting in Pescara she slips naturally into her element — diplomacy, clarity, social competence. Verona forces a reckoning: a moment in which she must act, regardless of how old or heavy her child has become. The rupture that follows leads to a long, quiet drive home, where memories surface in waves — the brutal honesty of her Israel and Sinai trips, the loneliness of a Finnish island, the tenderness of her son’s childhood. Back in Lüneburg, the dream‑relationship of the young couple begins to crack, not through catastrophe, but through the small, revealing details Anna has learned to read all her life.

Status

Story complete and written, 85,000+ words edited.

Rights and Publishing

I hold the rights. The German edition has so far been published in one of two volumes via self-publishing, on a print-on-demand basis. There is no binding period.

About me

I am a German author with a background in architecture, system design, and literary writing. I am currently completing the trilogy and preparing the accompanying materials for international publication.

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

Best regards,

Marc Krautwedel

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