Irish author Lisa McInerney is celebrating again after her debut novel, The Glorious Heresies, has been optioned for a new TV series. McInerney’s novel has already propelled her to literary stardom, having bagged her the Desmond Elliott Prize, awarded to the best debut novel, and the Bailey’s Women’s Prize for Fiction.
Production company Fifty Fathoms has snapped up the rights to turn the Cork-based novel into a TV show. The company, which has developed projects for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Sky, has selected Julian Farino to direct and act as executive producer on the series. Best known for his work on Entourage, Farino has described the novel as “made for the screen,” and McInerney will adapt her own prose for the screen.
"The Glorious Heresies has a terrific ensemble of original characters, all of whom have compelling journeys, making it ideal for a classy television series,” Farino said. “Not only does Lisa write with edge and compassion, but her dialogue and sense of rhythm is hugely cinematic. Her material is made for the screen."
The novel, which takes place in post-crash Ireland, revolves around five different people whose lives are changed when a murder takes place. Praised for its blackly comic sensibilities, biting humour, arch dialogue and rich observation of Irish culture, the book has been sold to publishers in Spain, France, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Denmark, and Italy, with the promise of more territories to come.
McInerney, who first rose to fame as a blogger writing the popular journal Arse End of Ireland, is set to publish a second novel in April 2017; The Blood Miracles will reportedly act as a sequel of sorts, being set in the same world as her debut with characters reappearing in the follow-up.
