Kudos win TV rights to Setterfield’s 'spellbinding' third novel

Independent drama producer Kudos has won the television adaptation rights to Diane Setterfield’s new novel Once Upon a River (Doubleday) after "fierce competition" for the rights.

The story, a "spellbinding and moving" period mystery set on the River Thames, is publishing with Doubleday in the UK, after moving to Transworld from Orion, and Atria in the US in January 2019. 

The book is Setterfield’s third novel. It follows her debut 2006 novel The Thirteenth Tale (Orion), since published in 38 countries and adapted into a BBC TV drama by Heyday Films starring Vanessa Redgrave and Olivia Coleman, and her second 2013 novel Bellman & Black (Orion).

Sue Swift, head of Books & Adaptation at Kudos, acquired the rights from Lucy Fawcett at Sheil Land Associates.