Agents
Below you'll find multiple formats of the pitch for Incurable Bloom, followed by a synopsis of the story beats.
Logline
INCURABLE BLOOM is the story of Matt Sikora’s struggle to care for his terminally ill wife, whose denial forces him to investigate the unspoken rules of their lop-sided marriage, where he finds a secret that sends the pieces of his shattered family hurtling toward a future he never could have imagined.
book jacket
Matt Sikora walks into the ER with his wife on a Friday morning. One week later his two sons help him wheel their mother out of the hospital with 32 staples in her scalp and an inoperable brain tumor. Life quickly escalates into a game of survival for the Sikoras. Matt tries to mirror his wife’s unshakable optimism during her grueling treatment, but when she gets a second diagnosis, his life splits into a quixotic duality: one where he must play along with Corinne’s fantasy of survival and one where he must secretly prepare for the day she is gone. Her denial forces Matt to investigate the unspoken rules of their lop-sided marriage, where he finds a secret that changes everything. INCURABLE BLOOM is a unique story of trauma, loss, and letting go told through the voice of a loyal husband and loving father who finds himself questioning his past and hurtling toward a future he never could have imagined.
Query Letter & Bio
Stay-at-home dad, Matt Sikora, is anxious to get back to his daily routine as he waits for his wife’s results in the ER. There’s laundry to do, dishes to put away, and another gallon of milk to buy after Max and Frankie’s Lucky Charms disaster that morning. And if Corinne didn’t have another one of her lists for him to do while she put in a long day at the office, he might even have time to work on one of his stories, which he’ll probably never finish writing. But when Corinne’s MRI shows three tumors, his petty grudges and regrets vanish as he finds himself at the helm of ferrying his family through a medical and emotional nightmare.
At first, Matt struggles to reflect Corinne’s relentless optimism during her grueling treatment, but when he starts writing an inspirational blog during Corinne’s radiation therapy, which ends up completely melting the tumors, Matt finds a new identity as a writer and a new sense of hope. For the first time, he feels like it might be possible to write a happy ending to their story.
But dread creeps in when Corinne goes into full denial after a second, unrelated diagnosis, which triggers Matt to look beneath the surface and investigate the unspoken rules of their lop-sided marriage. Disaster strikes when the pandemic hits and the brain tumors return. Then, amid Matt’s quixotic attempts at playing along with her delusions while covertly planning for the worst, Corinne lets slip a secret that changes everything.
Like Crying in H-Mart by Michelle Zauner and Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad, INCURABLE BLOOM is a unique story about the consequences of hiding from the truth told through the voice of a loyal husband and loving father who finds himself questioning his past and hurtling toward a future he never could have imagined. Cancer survivors, caregivers, and those who have known a family in crisis will find themselves in these pages, but this book is especially for anyone who has ever needed to have a serious talk with someone they’ve loved but just couldn’t find the courage.
Matt Sikora is recently remarried and lives in Bucks County with his new wife, author Violet Kupersmith, his two sons, Max and Frankie, and a new baby girl, Minna, who joined the family in the fall of 2025.
synopsis
The book opens with stay-at-home dad, Matt Sikora, recalling the morning his life changed forever. He is getting his two sons, Max and Frankie, ready for school while his wife sends emails to say she won’t be at work. The doctor called to report “three spots of concern” on the MRI of her brain, and now Matt must take Corinne to the hospital to see the results. Matt is remembering this scene from some future date, just beyond the end of the book, and although his life changed in many was because of what happened that morning, it’s not the things that changed that still haunt him. It’s the things that didn’t.
In the waiting room, Matt reflects on his life and his lop-sided marriage to Corinne, where he has little control. Despite fearing the news that awaits them, Matt hopes this visit will catapult him into a more honest and equal partnership with his wife.
When the MRI shows three brain tumors, Matt is not only petrified, he also feels ashamed of his secret critique of Corinne and forgives her everything, wishing for his old life back.
When their eldest son finds out, he has a breakdown, and Matt doesn’t know if he should encourage him to remain positive or cry with him and confess his own fears. But when friends and family crown her a cancer-warrior, Corinne’s need for esteem takes over, forcing Matt to ignore the negatives and join the ranks in the fight against cancer.
Matt struggles to mirror Corinne’s optimism at first, but his doubts vanish when he starts writing an inspirational blog, where Corinne is the hero of their survival story. Each post gives Corinne the adoration she has always craved, and each comment and like reinforces Matt’s new identity as a writer, the career he has always wanted but has never had the courage to pursue.
But when Mindy (an advanced brain cancer patient) visits, Matt realizes that the medical nightmare they are about to fall into is one they may never wake from. The truth pushes Matt to promise himself to confront Corinne about the reality of their grim, and very near future.
During chemo, tensions rise when Corinne dismisses Matt’s concerns about her rapidly declining health. To complicate matters, her perpetual rosy outlook doesn’t allow fear or sadness in the house. When Corinne gets too weak and needs to pause treatment, Matt worries she may have lost her only shot at survival. Then, news of Mindy’s death confirms his worst fears about the path Corinne is on.
But when her blood counts rebound and she successfully finishes treatment, it seems Matt’s worries were all for nothing. The community, who has been following the story on Matt’s blog, rallies around her and throws her a benefit concert. Yet Matt can’t help but notice the underlying somber similarities between the benefit and a celebration of life, which makes him recall a devastating scene he witnessed outside Children’s Hospital, where parents commemorated their deceased children with a balloon release – one for each victim.
The bubble bursts when the brain tumors return and Matt realizes that Corinne is not only in decline, she is in denial, insisting the family just be happy. Disaster strikes when the pandemic hits and Matt must find a way to get Corinne in and out of the hospital for a risky treatment to save her life while keeping the family safe from Covid.
The family avoids the virus, but the treatment doesn’t halt the tumors, and with no options left, Corinne is placed in palliative care. Matt is crushed, yet hopeful that the death sentence might be the catalyst that will finally allow them to face Corinne’s death together as a family. But when she starts making plans for dates Matt knows she will not live to see, he is forced to start living two separate lives: one where he must play along with Corinne’s fantasy of survival and one where he must prepare for the day she is gone.
Matt secretly starts searching Corinne’s records for bank accounts, pensions, investments, and her life insurance policy, all while fulfilling Corinne’s demanding and delusional wishes and trying to find the courage to tell Max and Frankie the truth. For the first time, he realizes he is in a place he never wanted to find himself – fully accountable and all alone.
As Corinne’s mental state declines, she has a moment of clarity and lets slip a secret – her mother never liked her. Corinne’s toxic optimism, her people pleasing tendencies, her compulsion to work, they were all attempts to gain her mother’s approval, which she felt she never got. With this knowledge, Matt is ready to accept Corinne with all her faults and finally tell Max and Frankie the truth so the three of them can face Corinne’s death together.
Matt tells his boys, but instead of the breakdowns he is expecting, the boys admit that they’ve suspected it all along. With nothing left to hide, the conversation comes as a relief. Instead of pretending to be positive in front of one another and grieving alone in private, they can now face the truth together and talk about what they’ve been through and what’s to come. The morning after Corinne dies, Matt goes outside alone, and releases a single balloon, and with it, he lets go of his old life, a changed man.
The final image is a description of a photo of Max and Frankie taken at the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. The book closes with the three of them walking westward, under the arch, to a place they’ve never been before, as the sunsets.