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Headline Review has bought a début love story told from two perspectives co-written by husband and wife actors Olivia Poulet and Laurence Dobiesz.
Editorial director Sherise Hobbs acquired world rights from Katie Haines at The Agency in 12 Hours to say I Love You. Hobbs said she was hooked by the novel’s "simple" premise: "what if the love of your life was slipping away and you had only 12 hours to convince them to stay"?
The novel begins when, following a car accident, a young woman lies in an induced coma. When her stricken husband is told that the first 12 hours of a coma are most critical with patients known to respond to the voice of loved ones, he tells her their shared story. As the hours pass, "he becomes more desperate and begins to tell her things he’s never said...but is it too late? Is she is listening? And if so, can she find her way back to him?”
The two British performers have written and worked extensively for the theatre. On screen Poulet is perhaps best known as the Tory spin doctor Emma Messinger in "The Thick of It”, while Dobiesz work includes a roles in “Outlander” and "Testament of Youth". The two recently co-wrote and starred in BBC Radio 4 comedy-drama “#blessed”. Poulet has also been featured in the British tabloids as she was the college sweetheart and long-term partner of Benedict Cumberbatch.
Hobbs said: “Smart, moving and tender, with characters you’ll fall in love with, 12 Hours to Say I Love You is a very special novel. Olivia and Laurence’s writing is warm, sad, funny and true, and we are over the moon to be publishing their debut novel."