Kidman
Actress Nicole Kidman has optioned Chris Cleave‘s Little Bee. Kidman will both produce and star in the film, according to Variety.
I didn’t catch Little Bee pre-pub, but after reading a few pages in an Oxford bookstore I had to buy it. Luckily the UK practice of putting new books out in paperback made this an affordable and travel-friendly option. If you’re put off by the back cover copy (which basically says, this book is so good we can’t tell you anything about it), read a few pages and see if you’re not captivated by the voice of Little Bee, a 16-year-old Nigerian refugee with a surprising connection to Kidman’s well-to-do character, Sarah, and her husband. Unlike many over-hyped novels, this one delivers. Little Bee follows Cleave’s Incendiary, a novel in the form of a letter to Osama bin Laden in response to an (imaginary) terror attack on a London football stadium. Unfortunately, the pub date set for Incendiary was July 7, 2005, the day of the London tube bombings, and the novel failed to get the promotion it deserved. We’re glad to see Little Bee bring Cleave some well-earned success.
Fun fact: in the UK, Little Bee was called The Other Hand and featured a generic “literary fiction” type cover, a big contrast to the fanciful US jacket. Which do you prefer?
US vs. UK jackets
Watch an interview with Chris Cleave here.
I think Kidman will do well as Sarah – I heard about this a while back and my immediate thought was “good pick!”
I’m not usually a book-cover-kind-of-girl, but I must admit that part of the reason I picked up the hardcover US version was b/c of the gorgeous cover. I would have just glossed over the UK version if I’d seen it on the shelf.
And the book truly does live up to both the striking cover and all the hype – it is possibly one of my top 10 for this year. (I reviewed it on my blog in case you are interested in more details.)
You’re so right about the US cover — it’s striking and different, which the UK cover is not. Really enjoyed reading what your book club had to say about it.