Thoughts on query - Literary Fiction

[Silvio]

Hi there, I'd like to know if anybody has any feedback on my query. Is it clear what's at stake? Is it engaging? Any issues?
Thanks to everyone who'll respond.

When Safran is told where his mother is, he hardly believes it. He has only one memory of her and knows nothing: his father has always fallen silent at her name, and every effort to bring something to light has ended in failure. As he entered his adult life Safran tried to move on, yet his academic career stutters, his part-time job as a shelf-stacker has no other appeal than spending some time with his best friend and the novel he wrote sold 247 copies. When his mother’s name is mentioned, an old longing is awoken.

Summoned to a secretive meeting Safran meets F, a severe-looking man who claims to represent an underground political organisation. Abrupt and aloof, F doesn’t suggest Safran should go after his mother; he orders him to, while reporting back his findings.

Troubled by his mother’s connection with this shady organisation, Safran realises he has nothing to lose. Not a decent job to hold on to, not a fulfilling academic career to nourish. Nor a relationship, anymore: his girlfriend, who had suddenly vanished from his life, has taken her own life, he discovers.

Profoundly unsettled by his girlfriend’s suicide, Safran encounters a girl with no name who seems to know more about him than she admits. As they discover a mutual understanding that goes beyond words, Safran comes to terms with the fact he has to trust F in the hope of finding his mother.

Fuelled by bewilderment, loss and a new sense of hope, Safran travels to the village where his mother was last seen, and as he digs deep into his mother’s past he begins to understand more about himself, and the future his life might hold.

[Author56]

I think this is good, it presents the story well. However, the last sentence threw me off a bit. The blurb makes it sound like he's searching for his mother the entire time, and then it makes it his big decision at the end. I think clarifying the central thread will make it stronger.

[GoneReadingGirl]

I think it's well written but likely a bit long for a query based on what I've been reading. I think this would be good as a synopsis.

[J.R.]

I agree with GoneReading that this isn't bad, but it's almost more of a synopsis than a blurb. I would try to shorten it and make it snappier. Try to include only what's essential.