The Confessions of Frannie Langton – the debut novel by Sara Collins – is being adapted for TV.
From Lucy Cavendish Fiction Prize to international publishing deals - and now TV
It seems that there's no stopping The Confessions of Frannie Langton and its brilliant author, Sara Collins. Just six months ago, publishers were scrambling to secure the rights to the book. Now, it's set to become serialised for TV by Drama Republic, whose previous series include the hugely popular Dr Foster and The Honourable Woman.
Set in Georgian London, The Confessions of Frannie Langton charts the story of a former Jamaican slave who finds herself in servitude to an eminent philosopher. But a twisted love affair sees Frannie accused of double murder; incarcerated in Newgate prison awaiting trial, she passes the days writing her life story, and through these memoirs we learn of her downfall.
The book’s London launch party last week saw the Lucy Cavendish College community out in force to support Sara, who will be speaking at our residential Creative Writing course in September.
Sara Collins on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour
Sara was invited onto Woman’s Hour to discuss her debut novel. Following a wide-ranging discussion about her journey from lawyer to author and the themes of the book, Jenny Murray asked Sara what impact being shortlisted for the Lucy Fiction Prize has had on her writing career.
Sara said:
“It was, without a doubt, the big break for me. I’m astonished at how much of a difference the prize has made to my writing life. And the key thing for me is that I signed with my agent, Nelle Andrew, as a result of being shortlisted when I had only a partial manuscript in hand. So at the time of the shortlisting I had written only about 12,000 words, many of which didn’t survive into the finished product. But both the judges and my agent saw enough in that very rough piece of work to give me a chance at publication, and I’ll forever be grateful for that. It’s really well worth attempting for women writers who’ve got something ticking away that they may have kept locked away in a drawer until now.”
Listen back to Sara discussing The Confessions of Frannie Langton on Woman’s Hour (from 18:00 minutes in)
Sara studied law at the London School of Economics and worked as a lawyer for seventeen years. In 2014 she embarked upon the Creative Writing Masters at Cambridge University, where she won the 2015 Michael Holroyd Prize for Re-creative Writing and was shortlisted for the 2016 Lucy Cavendish Prize for a book inspired by her love of gothic fiction. This turned into her first novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton.
Join Sara and a host of other authors, publishers, agents and editors – including many former Lucy Fiction Prize winners and runners-up – at our Creative Writing residential course, 28 Sept to 3 Oct 2019. Book now!