Australian author Anna Snoekstra’s debut novel The New Winter has been optioned by Universal Pictures.
Working Title’s Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan will produce the film, the saga of Rebecca Winter, who is 16 when she disappears in 2003.
Eleven years later a 25-year-old runaway claims to be Rebecca after she is caught shoplifting. Bec's family takes her in and she slowly starts to uncover the family secrets that led to their daughter’s disappearance.
Flashbacks follow Bec as a teenager when she falls in love with the wrong guy while hanging out at her best friend’s pool during the summer holidays.
The novel will be published by Harlequin imprint Mira in June 2016.
"When the book deal was listed on Publishers Marketplace we got a strong response almost immediately," Snoekstra tells IF. "Working Title was enthusiastic straight away so I couldn’t be happier to be working with them."
The Canberra-born author added, "The story is very Australian. Really, it’s about a girl growing up in the suburbs of Canberra in the middle of the Howard era, so it’s great that the reaction has been so strong internationally.
"It would be great if it was filmed here, but at this stage it's still up in the air."
Snoekstra studied creative writing and cinema at Melbourne University followed by screenwriting at RMIT University. After spending several years writing, directing and producing the short films Limbus, Glass and Tough as well as music videos, she decided to focus solely on writing. She’s also been an arts reviewer for the Melbourne Review.
Last week Working Title extended its first-look deal with Universal to 2020.