[QCrit] Adult Literary Fiction - A FURNACE SO HOT (83,000/First attempt)

Thank you very much who is willing to read and comment on my first query draft. Your help is immeasurable and I hope I can repay the favor in the future.

A few specific things I'd love feedback on if anyone has thoughts are:

• would it be more appropriate to classify this as historical fiction considering the turn-of-the-century setting?

• I mention some of the themes of the book in the third paragraph but let me know if you think I shouldn't name them so explicitly.

• I think the hook is a suitable length but let me know if I should reduce or expand it at all.

Dear [Agent],

Life on a poor ranch in the Central Valley of California is uncomplicated for ten year old Eli Schofield. He helps his father around the property, ignores his schooling, and spends as much time with his best friend, Jacob Carter, as he can. But a sudden feud between their fathers separates Eli and Jacob without warning, ending a relationship closer to that of brothers than mere friends. The unexplained schism between the families recedes into the subconscious of a young, confused Eli as ages into adulthood.

15 years later, after the discovery of oil on Schofield land, college-educated Eli is helping his father run the gargantuan Schofield Oil Company. But labor issues among the exploited workers and subversive efforts to ruin the Schofields threaten the stability and success of Schofield Oil. While Eli investigates the labor issues, the ghosts of his past reappear and force him to confront the sins of his father and betrayal tainting each barrel of oil pulled from the valley floor.

Complete at 83,000 words, A FURNACE SO HOT is an Adult Literary Fiction novel set in the late 19th/early 20th century Central Valley of California. It would appeal to readers of C.E. Morgan’s The Sport of Kings and C. Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills Is Gold as it explores intergenerational enmity, class betrayal, and the disparate outcomes of the children of privilege and the children of the oppressed in the exploited frontier of California.

I am a lawyer in [] with degrees from []. When I’m not writing in my free time, I represent catastrophically injured or deceased persons against insurance companies.

Thank you very much for your time and consideration.