Hush, Little Children

“The first was a girl, eleven years old.”

Forthcoming, Fall 2025, from Flexible Press

The “Best” Rejections

“I think that the concept at its heart could be too off-putting for some readers. I personally usually enjoy dark stories, but I think this was just a bit too dark for my taste.”

“The writing is beautiful and I kept going because of it, but ultimately the story itself became a problem for me—I like “dark,” but this is just too depressing and I worry how we could market it successfully.” 

“I thought it was an unusual and inventive premise, and Hayan has a really enveloping voice, but ultimately I found myself a little too personally troubled by it to want to spend a year+ thinking about this book.”

“Novels where bad things happen to children are a hard sell for me.”