Susan Lee Hahn

Wives Without Borders

WIVES WITHOUT BORDERS (Novel + TV Pilot)

Overview: WIVES WITHOUT BORDERS is an edgy, comedic, spiritually-infused novel (Women’s Fiction 85,000 words) about a romantically challenged, single woman (Maddie, 39+) on a quest for a husband and a family who poses as a psychic medium to meet eligible widowers. After she falls for one of the men in her grief group, she discovers that she actually can see dead people. Then she can’t stop seeing them! All hell breaks loose. Literally. This rift between realms allows some unsavory ‘Wise Guys’ access to Maddie, putting her life in danger. Now she needs the deceased wives as much as they need her. An unlikely friendship develops between Maddie and her new lover’s deceased wife, Jessie (35) who claims that he killed her. Even though Maddie isn’t sure if Jessie is there to warn/help her or to derail her new romance, Jessie is the one who risks the most to keep Maddie safe.

Maddie must reinvent (or reincarnate) herself in this next chapter of her life and is forced to move back to Chicago to live with her Femme Fatale mother, Gypsy since now she’s unemployed, chronically single, and can’t afford the cost of living in Northern California where she has been for the past eighteen years. Forced to confront her chaotic and inappropriate childhood, Maddie embraces her newfound ability to reach into the energetic realm and looks for answers and wisdom to help her recover from the past and create a bright future. Maddie longs to belong and has been chasing the idea of having a stable family of her own because she never had one. As Maddie and the other deceased wives make soulful connections in this metaphysical romp, they illuminate the power of collaboration and compassion, which helps them all to resolve their pasts and evolve their souls.

COMPS: The streaming series, Dead to Me, which showcases the unlikely friendship between the two female protagonists who come together under precarious circumstances involving a dead man, and the series Fleabag since the eccentric female protagonist has a similar endearing, tornado-like sensibility.

In fiction, their friendship and entanglement over the same man is somewhat reminiscent of Caitlin Barasch’s debut novel, A Novel Obsession and, This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub depicts a female protagonist of a similar age who grapples with family issues and askes the reader to take only one, ‘other-worldly’ leap.

AWARDS/ACCOLADES (Pilot Script):