Joanna Quinn’s WW2 novel ‘The Whalebone Theatre’ is getting a TV adaptation
A television series based on hit book The Whalebone Theatre has been announced!
English author Joanna Quinn’s 2022 bestseller is a coming-of-age story set in the shadows of the oncoming Second World War.
The makers of upcoming Starz period drama series Mary & George and Jodie Comer’s new movie The End We Start From have now acquired the rights to adapt the novel.
The series will be produced by Hera Pictures, former Channel 4 drama boss Liza Marshall’s production company, who previously made Keeley Hawes’ hit drama Honour for ITV.
“We fell in love with Jo’s gorgeous book from the moment it began,” commented Marshall.
“A family epic, a coming-of-age chronicle, a spy thriller and a tangled romance, The Whalebone Theatre is written with such warmth, poignancy and humour, it’s no surprise that it is a global bestseller,” praised the producer.
“Countless people who have read the book have told me they would love to see it as a TV series,” said writer Joanna Quinn.
“I am delighted that Hera Pictures have acquired the rights,” she added.
A broadcaster hasn’t yet been announced for the project, which isn’t expected to arrive on screen before 2025 at the earliest.
“One blustery night in 1928, a whale washes up on the shores of the English Channel,” the book’s official synopsis tells us.
“By law, it belongs to the King, but twelve-year-old orphan Cristabel Seagrave has other plans. She and the rest of the household—her sister, Flossie; her brother, Digby, long-awaited heir to Chilcombe manor; Maudie Kitcat, kitchen maid; Taras, visiting artist—build a theatre from the beast’s skeletal rib cage.
“Within the Whalebone Theatre, Cristabel can escape her feckless stepparents and brisk governesses, and her imagination comes to life.
“As Cristabel grows into a headstrong young woman, World War II rears its head. She and Digby become British secret agents on separate missions in Nazi-occupied France—a more dangerous kind of playacting, it turns out, and one that threatens to tear the family apart.”
Joanna Quinn’s book The Whalebone Theatre is available on Amazon.