I couldn’t be more excited to announce Ooligan’s newest acquired manuscript by Close is Fine author Eliot Treichel, returning to the press for his debut novel. This time around, the short story author spent four years working on a young adult novel that incorporates his love of the outdoors. We’re calling it Wild for YA and John Green meets Hatchet.

After her father’s accidental death on a father-daughter canoeing trip, our narrator Emma struggles to move on from the trauma. Plagued by guilt, she must find a way to navigate her father’s memory and her relationship with her mother and friends in the wake of her father’s absence. She retreats inward and finds the strength to deal with her grief in her own way, without needing rescue from anyone else.

Our first order of business is to decide on a title. Our team has narrowed it down to five top contenders, which we will bring to the rest of the press Monday. Choosing a title isn’t easy, but only because it will shape the book from here on out. Once we have a name for the project, we can begin market research and thinking about the design. In the coming weeks we will get reintroduced to Eliot, who is very happy to be working with Ooligan again. We also look forward to receiving his revised manuscript so we can continue the editing process.