Ellwood's thriller My Sister's Bones optioned for screen

Nuala Ellwood’s PTSD thriller, My Sister’s Bones (Viking), has been optioned by Bill Kenwright.

Kenwright, a producer and chairman of Everton Football Club, has optioned the screen rights to the British author’s novel through his company, Bill Kenwright Films, from Marc Simonsson of SoloSon Media, on behalf of the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.

The novel tells the story of two sisters, Kate, a war reporter, and Sally, a recluse who never left their childhood home of Herne Bay. When their mother dies, Kate returns from Syria to Herne Bay and grows concerned about what is going on in the house next door. But, as it becomes apparent Kate is a victim of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), the reader struggles to know who to believe, or who is actually guilty.

Kenwright said he is always looking for “that intangible something special” and felt that Ellwood’s book “transcends” the thriller genres and “almost reinvents it”.

He said: “I bought multiple copies for my friends and the verdict was unanimous: the best British thriller in recent memory. So the search begins, to find a screen-writer that matches Nuala’s extraordinary talent for character, suspense and great story-telling.”

Ellwood, who won Arts Council England funding to write the novel, said she was “thrilled” that her book will be brought to screen by “such a dynamic and visionary producer”.

Viking’s commissioning editor Katy Loftus acquired the title in 2016 in a pre-empt and one other in a "substantial" deal with Madeleine Milburn at the Madeleine Milburn Literary Agency.

My Sister’s Bones has sold 6,435 copies making £39,570 in total, according to Nielsen BookScan, with the paperback selling more than 2,200 copies since being released on 7th September (with only two days of data available).