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HarperFiction has pre-empted The Girls are Good by Ilaria Bernardini, a “gripping and claustrophobic thriller” set in the world of elite gymnastics.
Editorial director Phoebe Morgan pre-empted world all language rights, excluding Italy, from Elizabeth Sheinkman at PFD. Mondadori, which published Bernardini’s last two successful novels in Italy, will release the book there, and HarperFiction will publish in hardback in autumn 2022.
The book has also been optioned by Indigo film and is being co-developed as an eight-part TV series written by Ludovica Rampoldi, Chiara Barzini and Ilaria Bernardini. Principal photography is scheduled for the start of 2022.
Bernardini is an Italian author and screenwriter who has previously been longlisted for Italy’s prestigious Strega prize. The Girls are Good was inspired by the author’s exclusive behind-the-scenes exposure to the controversies that have gripped the world of gymnastics over the past decade.
Morgan said: “I read The Girls are Good in one breakneck sitting – it’s one of the most unique novels I’ve read for years, and exposes the fascinating, cruel world of elite gymnastics at the same time as being a gripping and claustrophobic thriller. It brilliantly explores the terrible pressures young women are put under to perform – from regimented eating to substance abuse – and Ilaria is a hugely exciting new talent. I’m delighted to bring her to HarperFiction.”
Bernardini said: “In addition to being physically one of the most dangerous sports in the world (often fuelled by sadistic training, eating disorders and abuse), gymnastics has in its very DNA the centrifugal, revolutionary force of adolescence clashing brutally with the centripetal claustrophobic force of competitive training: it is a ticking bomb.
“The Girls are Good is the story of a murder and a work of fiction. But the experiences of the gymnasts and the world the girls inhabit is based on the stories I was told and bore witness to. HarperFiction is the perfect home for this novel and I am thrilled to be working with Phoebe Morgan who, being the successful editor of the brilliant Girl A, immediately grasped what my story was trying to achieve from the start.”