by FilmInk Staff
Bruna Papandrea’s award-winning global film and TV production company Made Up Stories today announced its option of New York Times bestselling author Sally Hepworth’s novel DARLING GIRLS.
The winner of the 2024 Ned Kelly Award for Best Crime Fiction, DARLING GIRLS is a page-turning thriller about sisterhood, secrets and murder. The novel was an instant national bestseller in the US and Australia’s #1 fiction title upon release. Hepworth’s novels, known for their memorable female characters, have been hailed as “deliciously entertaining, packed with wit and suspense” (People), “masterful” (Kirkus) and “impossible to put down” (Cosmopolitan).
In DARLING GIRLS, Jessica, Norah and Alicia return to the idyllic farming estate where they were raised by a loving foster mother when a body is discovered under the house. Rescued from family tragedies, the foster sisters were always told how lucky they were to be given an elusive second chance of a happy family life. But, forced to return to Wild Meadows, it becomes clear their childhood wasn’t the fairy tale everyone thought it was, and the sisters find themselves thrust into the spotlight as key witnesses — or prime suspects.
DARLING GIRLS will be adapted for television by Irish screenwriter and producer Orlagh Collins, who also serves as executive producer / showrunner. Papandrea, Steve Hutensky and Katie Amos will produce for Made Up Stories. Hepworth and Rob Weisbach will serve as executive producers. Hepworth is repped by CAA and Rob Weisbach Creative Management.
Made Up Stories said, “We love making compelling thrillers at Made Up Stories with complex women at the centre. Sally’s brilliant book has four of them and, paired with Orlagh Collins’ adaptation, we’ve been left breathless.”
Sally Hepworth said, “I’m thrilled to be working with Bruna, Steve and Made Up Stories to adapt DARLING GIRLS for series. I’ve long admired their dynamic filmmaking and their passion for telling women’s stories, so I feel unbelievably lucky to partner with them to bring this particular story to life—one that examines three uniquely complex women at the centre of a murder investigation and the team of detectives who grossly underestimate their unbreakable bond of sisterhood.”
