Emma Knight's bestselling novel The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus to be adapted for television
The Toronto author's debut novel was an instant bestseller
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus, Emma Knight's debut novel, will be made into a TV series, Variety reports.
The adaptation will be produced by the production company Escape Artists for Amazon's MGM Television.
"Never in my wildest dreams did it seem possible that my first novel might come to life as a TV series," said Knight in an email to CBC Books. "I'm delighted and honoured that the teams at Escape Artists and MGM/Amazon connected with my characters and I can't wait to see who they envision playing them onscreen."
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus tells the story of Pen, a first-year student at the University of Edinburgh. While juggling new classes and friends, she looks for answers about her parents' messy divorce by writing a letter to her dad's estranged best friend, thriller writer Lord Lennox.
When he invites her to spend a weekend at his family estate, she can't help but become enthralled with his entire family — and slowly begins to unravel the family secrets that left her parents so pained.
"It's about that suspension of judgment and understanding that all the different ways there are to be human, there are the same number of ways to be a mother and that if you're being an authentic version of yourself, that's better, I think, for your children than if you're suppressing a part of yourself," she said in a recent conversation on Bookends with Mattea Roach.
The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus was an instant bestseller and has been picked for Jenna Bush's book club.
Knight is an author, journalist and entrepreneur based in Toronto. Her work has appeared in Literary Hub, Vogue, The Globe and Mail, The Walrus and The New York Times. She co-hosted and created the podcast Fanfare and co-founded the organic beverage company Greenhouse.
She is the author of cookbooks How to Eat with One Hand and The Greenhouse Cookbook.
