Ms. Niffenegger is the author of the highly successful The Time Traveler's Wife, but when not being an author she is a teacher at Chicago's Columbia College. For years, it was the place to go for training in radio and television, and their MFA program has been moving up in the ratings.
The entire short novel will be presented in seven installments, and the first one is so brief that you could finish it up before your cuppa tea grew cold. It is almost entirely backstory, with not a word about ghosts. The opening sentences set up the premise, with the author (it's told in first person POV) musing on a surprised inheritance of a house. I can't say that it would pass the literary agent sniff test, lacking as it does any sort of action. In a literary way, I feel that someone pondering the disintegration of their marriage is intriguing, but thus far I have not found an agent who feels likewise. But then again, this is not Ms. Niffenegger's first go round, and you can't be guided by the opening of a second novel if you haven't published your first.
I for one am delighted that a newspaper is printing fiction as a week-long series. It was good enough for Dickens, and we're still reading his works. Who knows, maybe a daily dose of make-believe could generate a bit of interest in reading for pleasure once again.
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