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Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories Lands JoAnn Chaney Thriller Novel ‘As Long As We Both Shall Live’
EXCLUSIVE: Bruna Papandrea’s Made Up Stories has acquired film rights to As Long As We Both Shall Live, the upcoming JoAnn Chaney novel that Flatiron Books will publish January 15. Made Up Stories will develop the project for film in partnership with Endeavor Content.
It adds to a number of female-centric novels that Made Up Stories has percolating, including Signe Pike’s The Lost Queen, Holly Ringland’s The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart, and Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers.
The novel is about a complicated marriage gone very wrong. Matt Evans and his wife Marie are on a hike not far from their home in Denver, when Marie goes off a cliff to near certain death in the river below. Matt frantically seeks out park rangers to report the incident, claiming it was an accident. But detectives investigating uncover an incident over 20 years ago when his first wife was killed in a home invasion that he miraculously escaped. When a body is finally pulled from the raging river, all hell breaks loose. Is he twice unlucky or a cold blooded killer?
Papandrea will produce the film alongside Made Up Stories’ Steve Hutensky and Jeanne Snow, and Janice Park will also shepherd the project on behalf of the company. Papandrea has mined this territory before in films that include Gone Girl and All Good Things.
“JoAnn Chaney’s latest novel is exactly the kind of thriller I have been looking for, with a Hitchcockian mystery, jaw-dropping twists, and razor-sharp teeth,” Papandrea said. “We at Made Up Stories are thrilled to be shepherding this riveting story to the screen.”
The author said Papandrea’s track record made her the choice to turn the tale into a film. “Her past projects, like Big Little Lies, are nothing short of amazing, and I’m so excited to see the vision Made Up Stories has for As Long As We Both Shall Live.“
Chaney writes from Colorado and this is her second novel behind What You Don’t Know, which Flatiron published in 2017. Her deal was made by Hotchkiss Daily & Associates on behalf of Stephanie Cabot at The Gernert Company.