TV deal for Baileys winner Lisa McInerney

Lisa McInerney's Baileys Women's Prize for Fiction-winning debut The Glorious Heresies has been optioned for TV in a deal with boutique TV production company Fifty Fathoms.

Fifty Fathoms has worked with writers including Jack Thorne, who wrote the play script for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and has developed projects for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV and Sky, and has a deal to develop further series for Sky Atlantic.

Julian Farino, behind shows such as "Entourage", will direct and executive produce a series adaptation of The Glorious Heresies, a book he said was "made for the screen", with McInerney herself responsible for adapting her novel.  Patrick Spence will executive produce for Fifty Fathoms. The deal was negotiated by McInerney’s agent Ivan Mulcahy at Mulcahy Associates.

Farino said: "The Glorious Heresies has a terrific ensemble of original characters, all of whom have compelling journeys, making it ideal for a classy television series. 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 news is accompanied by John Murray's "new look" for the paperback edition of the novel in the form of a "striking" new cover. The paperback will be reissued in September, to coincide with a major outdoor advertising campaign and a John Murray prize-winners tour of Waterstones.

The novel was also shortlisted for several awards before winning the prestigious Desmond Elliott Prize and being named Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction book of the year. International deals so far been done in Spain, France, Holland, the Czech Republic, Denmark and Italy, with more under negotiation.  

Lisa McInerney’s second novel, The Blood Miracles, will be published by John Murray in April 2017. She told The Bookseller earlier this year it would be set "in the same world" as The Glorious Heresies with character reappearances from her debut to be expected.