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Piatkus signs ‘funny, sexy’ debut novel from The Bangles’ Hoffs as film rights seized
This Bird Has Flown, the debut novel by Susanna Hoffs, performer and co-founder of American pop-rock band The Bangles, has been signed by Piatkus.
Anna Boatman, fiction publisher, acquired UK and Commonwealth rights from Caspian Dennis at Abner Stein on behalf of Sarah Burnes at The Gernert Company, for publication on 4th April 2023 in paperback, e-book and audio.
Film rights have also been snapped up by Universal Pictures. Liza Chasin and Bruna Papandrea — who recently partnered for the first time on the Netflix limited series ”Anatomy of a Scandal”, based on Sarah Vaughan’s same-name novel — will join forces to produce the film adaptation. Hoffs will adapt her own work for the screen.
The synopsis says: "This Bird Has Flown tells the story of Jane Start—33, broke, and recently single. Ten years before, she had a hit song—written by world-famous superstar Jonesy—but Jane hasn’t had a breakout since. Now she’s living out of four garbage bags at her parents’ house, reduced to performing karaoke tracks in Las Vegas. But when her longtime manager Pippa sends Jane to London to regroup, she’s seated next to an intriguing stranger on the flight—the other Tom Hardy, an elegantly handsome Oxford professor of literature."
Jane is instantly smitten by Tom, and soon, truly inspired. But it’s not Jane’s past alone that haunts her second chance at stardom and at love. Is Tom all that he seems? And can Jane emerge from the shadow of Jonesy’s earlier hit, and into the light of her own?
In turns “deeply sexy, riotously funny, and utterly joyful”, according to the publisher, This Bird Has Flown explores love, passion and the ghosts of our past, and “offers a glimpse inside the music business that could only come from beloved songwriter Susanna Hoffs”.
Boatman said: “It’s incredibly exciting and a huge privilege to bring Susanna’s charming, sexy, hugely enjoyable novel onto the Piatkus fiction list. We can’t wait to share this roller-coaster peek into the music industry with readers everywhere."
Hoffs commented: "In many ways This Bird Has Flown is a love letter to Great Britain. Hearing The Beatles as a child started the obsession for me, then came a love of British novelists from Charlotte Brontë to John Fowles and Thomas Hardy-whose name I chose for my romantic male lead. I am thrilled the book will reach readers in the UK and British Commonwealth and am delighted to work with the team at Piatkus to make it happen!"
