Page to Screen: New Sophie Kinsella and a U.K. Thriller Set in Pittsburgh

By Rachel Deahl -- Publishers Weekly, 5/13/2009 12:47:00 PM

This week in Page to Screen—PW's weekly column tracking film rights circulating and sold in Hollywood—Sophie Kinsella's latest starts making the rounds along with a new thriller from the U.K.

Sophie Kinsella's forthcoming novel, which Dial is publishing in July, is, we hear, just starting to make the rounds in Hollywood. British agent Val Hoskins is working with CAA co-agent Brian Siberall on the film rights for Twenties Girl, about a just-dumped 20-something named Lara whose life is drastically changed when she's visited by her recently deceased 105-year-old Aunt Sadie. When Sadie, who appears as a 23-year-old flapper, strong-arms Lara into helping her find a misplaced necklace, ghost and girl strike up an unlikely friendship. When asked about the submission, CAA declined to comment.

The film rights to a new U.K. thriller are also just out on submission. Rob Kraitt at AP Watt is shopping Daniel Blake's thriller featuring Pittsburgh PI Francesco Patrese; the book's called Soul Murder, and Harper published this month in the U.K. (The U.S. publishing rights have not yet sold.) The book, the first in a planned series, follows a string of grisly murders--three infants, with the same mother, have all been  killed--that sets off another killing spree and sends Patrese on the hunt for a serial killer. Blake is actually a pseudonym and the author's interesting resume--he wrote for the Daily Telegraph, worked for a company that specializes in kidnap and risk negotiations, and appeared on the British quiz show Mastermind--may attract some to the project, in addition to the general appeal of thriller franchises.

Correction: In last week's Page to Screen, The Forest of Hands and Teeth was incorrectly identified as being set in colonial times. It's set in a near post-apocalyptic future.