To: KatherineMarchland@gmail.com
From: Susan.Douglas@DouglasEvansPR.co.uk
Date: 2 September 2018
Subject: The Cottage in the Forest Manuscript
Hi Katherine,
I hope you’re well.
Goodness. I’m not sure where to start. First, I’m sure you know, but I’m not really working in the book world any more. I’ve gone into more generalised PR (for my sins), but as I said before, I’m very happy to read anything you write. That aside, this manuscript is, to be frank, rather astonishing.
I’m sure everyone’s got something curious in their past, but your story has got me seriously hooked. I’m also so sorry to hear you had to deal with your mother’s breakdown so young (btw, I wasn’t sure how old you actually are in the book? Ten? Eleven?), and that your father’s solution was to take you all to live in the woods. The details you go into – being left to wander the forest alone; the two visitors who are clearly doing something very strange with your mum – is all of this true? Of course, I’m not doubting your word (as you mentioned), and I’m sorry to ask; it’s all just so shocking. Have you been burying all these experiences over the years without telling a soul? Are the names all real? And lastly, can I ask: was there ever a police investigation?
The ending truly shocked me – especially if what happened was covered up somehow. Try as I might, I can’t get some of the images you paint in those last few chapters out of my head. They’re going to haunt me for a long time, I think.
Thank you again for sending this. Let’s have a meetup sometime soon. I can advise you on your next steps and recommend some contacts you can approach.
Best,
Susan
Susan Douglas
Douglas & Evans PR
@SusanDouglasPR | 23 Howell Park Gardens, Hackney, London.
To: Susan.Douglas@DouglasEvansPR.co.uk
From: KatherineMarchland@gmail.com
Date: 3 September 2018
Subject: RE: The Cottage in the Forest Manuscript
Hi Susan,
Thanks so much for reading. I know life must be hectic at the moment, so I really am hugely grateful for this! And yes, it’s all true. Mostly. It all happened when I was ten, when my dad took me and my mother to Northumbria for a couple of weeks in the October half term (when the trip started to run into school time, I believe my father told the school I had flu). The names haven’t been changed, at least. I did think about altering them, but something always stopped me. Perhaps because it feels like I’d be doing it to protect the guilty – something I’d rather not do.
Even so, I’ve decided to present the book as a novel. I just couldn’t cope with the attention a memoir might bring, and at least as a novel it gives me a bit of room to string it together into a coherent story. I just wish it was only fiction. I’d be really keen to meet up some time soon and discuss it in more detail if you have the time. Would love to hear any other tips or suggestions you have before I begin submitting it to agents.
Thanks so much, once again,
Yours,
Katherine.