By Alice Warburton and Georgie Cutler
Headline Pre-Empts Friends Stars’ Memoir
Headline has pre-empted Matthew Perry’s sought-after memoir in a “major” overnight move. Currently untitled, this will be the first memoir from the Friends cast. It is set to explore Perry’s experience of the global hit tv show Friends, as well as his very private struggles with addiction.
Rights were acquired in the US by Megan Lynch and Bob Miller, Vice President and President of Flatiron Books respectively, and in the UK and Commonwealth by Sarah Emsley, Headline’s Non-fiction Director. Perry himself commented that “there has been so much written about me by others in the past. I thought it was time people heard it directly from the horse’s mouth.” His memoir is set to be published in autumn 2022.
Penguin Random House Announce New Audio for Pratchett
Penguin Random House are set to re-record and release the late Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, over the next two years. An all-star cast is set to voice act in this, with Bill Nighy starring as the voice of Pratchett, Peter Serafinowicz voicing the character “death” throughout the series, and many more actors taking part, including India Varma and Colin Morgan. Neil Gardner of Ladbroke Audio is producing and directing the audiobooks, with composer and bafta-winner James Hannigan commissioning the theme tunes. Discworld’s subseries is to be published as follows: Witches (April 2022); Wizards (July 2022); Death (October 2022); Moist Von Lipwig (February 2023); City Watch and Tiffany Aching (April 2023). The standalone novels Pyramids, Small Gods, The Truth, Moving Pictures, The Amazing Maurice, and Monstrous Regiment will also be published, with a special Christmas edition of The Hogfather in early December 2021.
Peepal Tree Press Snag Mathur’s Memoir
Indie publishers Peepal Tree Press have acquired multimedia journalist and author Ira Mathur’s “hard-hitting” memoir Love The Dark Days. Rights were bought directly from the author by Hannah Bannister. The book will follow Dolly, “the older and darker daughter in a privileged but dysfunctional Indian family, who bring their intergenerational traumas to the very different worlds of Trinidad and Tobago.” The author, Mathur, has been previously longlisted for the 2021 Bath Novel award for her book Touching Dr Simone, and in 2019 was longlisted for the Johnson and Amoy Achong Caribbean Writers’ Prize; she is also a Sunday Guardian columnist. The memoir will be published 7 July 2022.
Penguin Random House Set to Publish New Wilson Novel
Jacqueline Wilson’s newest young-adult novel Baby Love has been acquired by Penguin Random House. Set in the 1960s, this “heart-breaking, compelling and timely story” discusses issues such as teen pregnancy and family troubles, suitable for readers aged 12+. UK and Commonwealth rights were acquired from Caroline Walsh at David Higham Associates, by Kelly Hurst, Editorial Director. Wilson herself noted that she “wrote Baby Love to show how different life was back in 1960…women my age are still grieving for their lost children. My heart goes out to them.” It is set to be published 17 March 2022.
From Book to Screen: What to watch?
Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci in Cinemas
Lady Gaga, Adam Driver, Jared Leto, Salma Hayek, Jeremy Irons and Al Pacino star in this biopic directed by Ridley Scott. Based on the Sara Gay Forden novel The House of Gucci, originally published in 2002, it follows Patrizia Reggiani’s (Gaga) entry into and exit from the Gucci family, and the murder of her ex-husband Maurizio Gucci, which she is blamed for. If you want a tale of fashion, family, glamour and murder you can find it here. House of Gucci is in cinemas now.
Harlan Coben’s Stay Close on Netflix
This eight-part series, based on the novel of the same name, joins the likes of Safe, The Stranger and The Woods to become the seventh Harlan Coben adaptation on Netflix on a five-year deal. Stay Close will star Cush Jumbo, James Nesbitt and Richard Armitage. The plot focuses on three people whose dark pasts won’t stay hidden and threatens to tear their lives apart. Stay Close comes to Netflix on 31 December 2021.
In the Works
Augustine Frizzell to Direct The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue
The movie adaptation of V. E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue is going to be directed by Augustine Frizzell. The novel, published in October 2020, follows Addie LaRue, who makes a deal to live forever. However, this Faustian bargain means she’s forgotten by everyone who meets her. After 300 years, she finally meets a man who remembers her name. Frizzell will also be writing the script with her husband, filmmaker David Lowery.
Jodi Picoult’s Wish You Were Here picked up by Netflix
Wish You Were Here, the latest novel from Jodi Picoult, has been bought by Netflix from WME. The novel, which was published on 25 November 2021, focusses on Diana O’Toole from New York City. She’s got everything: the career, the boyfriend and a romantic holiday to the Galápagos. When her boyfriend has to stay in the city, she reluctantly flies to the Galápagos by herself. Her exploration of the beautiful island makes her question what she wants out of life. Jodi Picoult is the author of twenty-seven novels, who’s last twelve books have debuted at Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Wish You Were Here will be produced by 3Dot Productions and Jennifer Todd Pictures.