PEEBLES teacher Claire McFall is off to Hollywood after one of the movie industry’s biggest producers bought the rights to her book for young adults.
It comes after the 35-year-old part-time English teacher’s book, Ferryman, telling the story of a young girl killed when a train to Aberdeen crashes, sold more than a million copies in China.
The trilogy of novels could be set for worldwide recognition after the film and graphic novel rights were picked up by Legendary Entertainment, the producers responsible for some of the biggest movies of the last decade, including the most recent King Kong and Godzilla films, and all of Christopher Nolan’s early work, including his Batman films and Interstellar.
The book is a retelling of the ancient Greek myth of Charon, the ferryman of Hades, who transports souls to the Underworld.
In China, Ferryman has been one of country’s top 10 bestselling books since June 2015, joined by its sequel, Trespassers, published last year.
That success in the Far East, which has been compared to Beatlemania, has spurred Legendary to propose two versions of the film, with one in English and the other in Chinese.
McFall was at Peebles high school when she took a call from her agent detailing the company’s offer.
“I did a bit of dancing round the classroom,” she told a UK newspaper.
Published in the UK in 2013, Ferryman won that year’s Scottish children’s book award for the 12-16 category and was shortlisted for various prizes, including the Carnegie medal.
While casting is yet to begin, McFall has some thoughts on it. “When I was writing them, I had people in my head, although tragically it was me in the girl part. Who doesn’t want to be the hero of their own story? Tristan was circa-Leonardo DiCaprio.”
McFall described the film deal as “mind-blowing”.
“When Ferryman was released in China, I was simply excited to see my story translated into another language; it’s meteoric rise in the Chinese fiction charts has left me speechless – and delighted.”
She added: “Now, thanks to Legendary, we begin a new chapter. Seeing Ferryman alive on the screen is something I could never have envisaged back when I was typing out those first few words, and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.”
McFall’s other books include Bombmaker, about a Scottish teenager called Lizzie, who lives in a post-apocalyptic, independent Scotland, where the English Government has put up a border wall to keep out Scots and the Welsh. In that story, any Scot found in England is branded with a tattoo and then executed without trial.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here