Meet the Co Down author whose successful first novel set in Northern Ireland could appear on our screens after being optioned for TV.
Hannah King from Banbridge had a stellar 2022 after having her physiological thriller 'She and I' published at the start of last year.
The 28-year-old told Belfast Live that the experience "feels like a dream" and that she cannot wait to see her own characters come to life if the adaptation plans come to fruition.
Read more: NI author pens novel set to be 'Sex and the City of Belfast'
Writing has always been a part of Hannah's life and after getting a laptop in her first year of high school, she got to writing her first 'novels' and hasn't stopped since.
She said: "I knew I wanted to do that professionally, even then, and there was never a backup plan so it’s really lucky that it’s starting to work out for me.
"I did a degree and then a master’s at Queen’s University Belfast, both in Creative Writing, and it was so dreamy to be surrounded by amazing, talented writers for those four years.
"A short story that I wrote was published in an anthology in 2019, and this led to interest from a wonderful literary agent in London a few months later. It was then that I really put my head down and committed to writing my debut."
Before 'She and I', Hannah had written short stories almost exclusively so turning her hand to the novel form was something she found "quite challenging" at the start but as soon as she got into the swing of it the rest "seemed to flow".
"It was like my characters took over and wanted desperately to get onto the page," Hannah said.
"I wrote She and I between July 2019 and June 2020, with another year or so of back-and-forth edits with my brilliant editor on top of that, so I felt like I was living in Jude and Keeley’s world for that period of my life!"
'She and I' is a literary thriller that asks the question ‘how close is too close?’. It centres around Jude and Keeley, two girls who have been inseparable since they were really young, and how their bond suffers when Keeley’s boyfriend is found dead after a New Year’s Eve party.
The story flicks between the present-day investigation into the man’s death, and flashbacks to important moments in the girls’ shared childhood, and it’s told from multiple points of view.
Hannah said: "This was an idea that I’d had in my head for maybe five years before I actually put pen to paper. I felt like I knew the girls so well, and that was maybe why the words flowed well for this one.
"I had always wanted to write a love story, but not a romantic one, and I think above all else, She and I is a love story to me."
The novel is set in the fictional town of Vetobridge which Hannah said was an amalgamation of Newcastle Co Down and her hometown of Banbridge.
"I love NI and everything about it, I’d never want to live anywhere else, so for me, I had to put the girls here," she continued.
"I love that they can go to the beach after school, and I think there’s something really interesting about writing about small-town life - when everyone thinks they know everyone else, there’s almost more room for secrets.
"TV rights have been optioned, so if that goes to plan we will be seeing Jude and Keeley on the wee screen – which is scary and wonderful! It’s in really good hands with Firebird Pictures, and I know they’ll do a great job of the adaptation"
The rights were optioned about a year before the book was officially published so Hannah said she had a while to digest it before even seeing her book on a shelf.
She added: "I feel very lucky to have had the book published, never mind if it manages to find its way onto the screen.
"Sometimes it feels like a dream, but I’m not questioning it!
"Since She and I was released in January 2022, I’ve written my second novel and I’m about half-way through my third, so it’s been a wonderfully busy year."
Since it has been published, Hannah has attended the Granite Noir festival in Aberdeen, the Belfast Book Festival and Capital Crime in London and hopes this is just the start her literary career.
"My favourite thing is hearing how different people react to the girls’ story - I’ve been lucky enough to attend a few book clubs to discuss She and I, and listening to what readers thought at different points, what they did and indeed didn’t like has been so interesting," she said.
"I’m obviously an avid reader myself, but it’s impossible to look at your book from a reader’s point of view, so it’s useful for me to do things like this.
"People pick up on things even I didn’t notice about my own book."
To find out more about She and I, see here
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