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Hypothesis
Not yet published
Expected 7 Jan 27What do you do for someone when there's nothing to do?
Rowan Chen is an MFA student who believes they are extremely subtle. They are not subtle.
For over a year now, the regulars at Lavender House have watched Rowan turn toward the door every time it opens. They have listened to Rowan explain, at length, that the windowless alcove near Dr. Zara Holt's office is simply a very good place to write. They aren’t buying it.
Zara isn't fooled, either. She’s a neuroscientist, precise by temperament and careful by policy, and she has been quietly cataloguing the Rowan’s eagerness, their questions, the way they say something insightful and then look embarrassed by it. She has also noticed that she looks forward to walking by the alcove.
So one February afternoon Zara hands Rowan a disclosure form to sign, asks if they'd like to have dinner with her, and leaves before Rowan can answer.
They start seeing each other, and it's good enough that eventually Rowan admits the thing they've told no their novel is stuck. It's about their aunt, estranged from the family. Rowan can't find her voice.
Zara could fix it. She can see its shape from above. It takes her the whole summer to learn that Rowan isn't asking to be fixed… and to let Rowan learn the same thing about her, on the low days when she can't be reached.
Hypothesis is a love story about two people learning to stay in the room. Book Four of the Lavender House Series.
Nonbinary lead · Age gap · Mutual pining · Dual POV · Character-driven · Found family · Open door · Mental health representation
Rowan Chen is an MFA student who believes they are extremely subtle. They are not subtle.
For over a year now, the regulars at Lavender House have watched Rowan turn toward the door every time it opens. They have listened to Rowan explain, at length, that the windowless alcove near Dr. Zara Holt's office is simply a very good place to write. They aren’t buying it.
Zara isn't fooled, either. She’s a neuroscientist, precise by temperament and careful by policy, and she has been quietly cataloguing the Rowan’s eagerness, their questions, the way they say something insightful and then look embarrassed by it. She has also noticed that she looks forward to walking by the alcove.
So one February afternoon Zara hands Rowan a disclosure form to sign, asks if they'd like to have dinner with her, and leaves before Rowan can answer.
They start seeing each other, and it's good enough that eventually Rowan admits the thing they've told no their novel is stuck. It's about their aunt, estranged from the family. Rowan can't find her voice.
Zara could fix it. She can see its shape from above. It takes her the whole summer to learn that Rowan isn't asking to be fixed… and to let Rowan learn the same thing about her, on the low days when she can't be reached.
Hypothesis is a love story about two people learning to stay in the room. Book Four of the Lavender House Series.
Nonbinary lead · Age gap · Mutual pining · Dual POV · Character-driven · Found family · Open door · Mental health representation
Kindle Edition
Expected publication January 7, 2027
About the author
Anya Birch
6 books7 followersAnya Birch is the pen name for two married queer women writing sapphic literary romance from the Pacific Northwest. Both came to fiction from academic careers because fiction could hold what scholarship couldn't. They have twelve published books between them, including award-winning titles and bestsellers, and this is their first collaboration. They live with their two kids and one snuggly dog, and have been meaning to get the garden going for several years now.
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