Walter’s A Quiet Life optioned for film

UK production company Versus Films has optioned rights to develop Natasha Walter’s debut novel A Quiet Life into a feature film. 

A Quiet Life, a Cold War novel published with The Borough Press in June 2016, was inspired by the life of Melinda Marling, “the communist in the Schiaparelli coat” and wife of Cambridge spy Donald Maclean. It followed her feminist non-fiction works published with Virago, The New Feminism (1998) and Living Dolls: The Return of Sexism (2010). 

Versus Films is a new independent production partnership between film and television producer Victor Glynn and publisher, photographer and writer Sophie Goldsworthy. Its aim is to be a home to "distinctive" literary adaptations and original screenplays, with a focus on "giving space to diverse voices and the development of moving and memorable stories with heart". Glynn is also currently in development on a feature film of Graham Greene’s The Captain and the Enemy (Vintage). 

Goldsworthy said: “From the moment we opened the book, we were utterly captivated by A Quiet Life, a thrilling story with a woman at its heart, which turns the conventional spy narrative on its head. It’s a powerful and evocative tale, brilliantly marrying historical themes and contemporary resonance, and we are excited to have this opportunity of working with its wonderful author Natasha to bring it to the big screen.”

Walter added: “I am delighted to think that one day I’ll be able to see Laura and her secrets brought to life on the screen. It’s a very exciting journey for a writer to go on, to imagine their story told in a different way, and it’s great to be working with Versus on this.”

The deal was brokered by Zoe Ross of United Agents.