Hattie Grunewald

Vibe: It's christmas eve, the fire is lit, I'm wrapped in a quilt and drinking a manhattan, and I want to read some really quite unseasonably dark shit

Vibe: just this level of pure joy

Vibe: an obscene amount of food porn, in a way that almost spoils the plot but not quite?

Vibe: Ok, someone got murdered but let's not get too serious about it? how hard can solving crimes even be?

Vibe: Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown. Misanthrope with a cause, solving crimes, f@cking shit up but not in a cool way, just in a "wow you need therapy" way.

Vibe: "Do You Think That There Is A Corner Of This Earth That You Could Travel To Far Away Enough To Free Me From This Torment?”

Vibe: MUMS. Motherland energy. But also like, having a mum, being a mum, we can relate.

Vibe: Evil gays??? (but make it sexy)

Vibe: 90s nostalgia but, like, dark. Bootleg jeans. Buffy but without the vampires. Yellowjackets?? I wasn't a teenager in the 90s but I wish I'd been a teenager in the 90s.

Vibe: This Is Us episode where they do family therapy. Huge family saga, lots of drama, but emotionally intelligent and everyone loves each other. I cry the whole time.

Vibe: Cell Block Tango, but like a book?

Vibe: I'm on holiday, I'm on a sun lounger by the pool, I have a cocktail, later I will go to a fancy dinner, I want a book to read that is just holiday joy.

Going through my submissions for the first time since my wedding and really ITCHING to sign some new novelists. So I thought it was time for a new #mswl. This time it's not genres, just ✨vibes✨

I'm not the right agent for fantasy and sci-fi, but I am not opposed to novels with a slight speculative twist. I'm interested in high concept love stories with a magical or techy element.

I'm also looking for post-war 20th century 'period' pieces a la Taylor Jenkins Reid. The kinds of stories that take us to interesting places or show us interesting people in a rapidly changing world. I'm interested in World War novels but they need to be doing something new.

In historical fiction, I would love something witchy and gothic. My taste tends towards under-represented voices from history, rather than a regency court romance. I'd love historical fiction by black and Asian voices. I love historical +mystery, or historical +love story.

I'm also looking for that book-club/psych thriller middle-ground, in the vein of Liane Moriarty, where there are lots of dark secrets and surprising twists and characters that could be someone you know.

In crime fiction I'm still on the hunt for a great new regional British crime series. I love atmospheric, character driven, rich crime stories like Tana French. I love modern twists on classic detective fiction. I like locked room mysteries and cosy crime villages.

(I love queer fiction and queer stories, from all parts of the sexuality and gender spectra, including coming out and coming of age stories but also just LGBTQ people doing normal stuff people in books can do - solve crimes, fall in love, makes mistakes and find themselves)

I'm looking for dark, gritty or issues-driven contemporary fiction. I'm here for tricky family dynamics, generational divides, the nuances of modern relationships. I loved My Dark Vanessa, Normal People, Such A Fun Age.