Hello Hollywood: Canberra’s Emma Grey’s book destined for the big screen
Posted on
Canberra author Emma Grey has taken the literary world by storm.
Embedding herself into the hearts and bookshelves of romance readers with her debut adult novel The Last Love Note – a book that will make you laugh, cry and renew your faith in love – it’s no surprise that her latest book Pictures of You was met with great excitement.
Rocketing straight into the USA Today best seller list after it was published in November 2024, only a few months in, it’s already outpacing The Last Love Note – and now it’s been optioned for the big screen.
Writing for 37 years and with seven books under her belt, Emma says when she heard the news that Pictures of You reached the USA Today bestseller list, she was beside herself.
Emma Grey.
And with the news that Australian independent production company Magpie Pictures was swooped in (pun intended) for the screen rights to bring the story of Evie and Drew to life, she says the response she’s had from readers has been staggering.
“Something like this is always the dream, but to wake up to an email from my American publisher sharing the news – with plenty of exclamation marks – was such an unexpected delight. In fact, I was so excited, I forgot to send my son to school, so we ditched that and went and had a celebratory breakfast in Manuka,” she says.
“I wrote both books with the intention of helping people feel less alone, so it has been rewarding – if emotionally taxing at times – to have received this outpouring of reader response.”
Chosen as part of a slate of distinctive, female-led scripted series under a Screen Australia Enterprise-funded growth strategy, for those that have read it, it’s no surprise that Pictures of You was selected.
With a bingeable storyline about a young woman struggling to piece her life back together in the wake of a tragic accident, and the man who gives up everything to help her, Emma says many readers resonate with the nostalgia of first love and with the idea of having a ‘do-over’ found in the book.
But she also says many women in coercively controlling relationships have said to her that it’s the most accurate fictional depiction of domestic violence that they’ve read.
“The novel is about two very different kinds of slow-burn relationships — one that burns hot and takes years to simmer into something more sinister, and one that rises from those ashes. It’s about first love and second chances; about the insidious ways a relationship can go terribly wrong and about the steadfastness of the friends who carry us through,” says Emma.
“This story was sewn together from decades of conversations with the women in my life: debriefs beside the high-school lockers about possessive first boyfriends long before we had words to describe ‘love bombing’ or ‘coercive control’; worried conversations in the office, pre mobile-phones, after you’d take a string of calls from a colleague’s controlling husband; messages from friends in midlife, back on the dating circuit after divorce or loss. I’m even speaking with readers who recognise the patterns in this book in their own parents’ relationships of 50 years or more.”
“Conversations with my daughter, Hannah Robertson, drove home the importance of writing about coercive control. She is nearing completion of a criminology PhD at the Australian National University, researching gendered violence. The book is dedicated to her.”
Announcing plans to adapt Pictures of You as “a returnable mystery/thriller TV series with a second chance love story at its heart”, Emma has been working with Magpie Pictures on early ideas for the creative direction, various plot points and elements of characterisation.
With plans for her daughter Hannah to have some input in the show – since her academic studies stimulated the novel’s plot and themes – Emma says that she only hopes that this is the first of several screen adaptations.
Emma and her daughter, Hannah.
“I love imagining what happens to my characters once a book ends and often miss them once I’ve moved onto the next project. The idea of being able to develop Evie and Drew’s stories further – beyond the scope of the novel – is incredibly enticing,” she explains.
“I’m confident that the creative vision seeks to balance the light and shade in the story, to tell the coercive control story realistically and responsibly, and to offer viewers a bingeable mystery based around forensic linguistics, which is a fascinating specialisation.”
“My agent and I have had some informal chats with one of the American producers we connected with, about The Last Love Note, which I see as a film. I’m fantasising about my Bridgerton and Wicked crush, Jonathan Bailey, playing Hugh.”
As for what’s next? Along with working with Magpie Pictures to bring Pictures of You to a whole new audience, Emma is currently editing her next book, Start At The End, which is due for publication in the US/Canada, UK and Australia/New Zealand in 2026.
But she’s also going back to her Canberra roots and says she wouldn’t have come this far without the local community.
“Long-time HerCanberra readers might remember that I co-wrote a musical with Canberra composer Sally Whitwell based on my teenage novel. Just as things started ramping up after a fabulous performance by St Clare’s College, COVID put a spanner in the works for theatre,” she says.
“We’re looking for the next high school to stage this fresh Australian musical now. That show, and the exuberance of teenage theatre kids has always been my happy place. It really pulled me through the first year of my grief after my husband died.”
“The support of HerCanberra readers throughout my writing career has been incredible. I wrote a weekly column here for nine years, and readers saw me through the loss of my husband, through the multiple rejections and re-directions in my writing career and now into these sunshiney next steps. I’m so grateful for the support.”
Make sure to pick up a copy of the book and keep your eyes peeled for the Pictures of You release date – because we’ll definitely be bingeing it.
Feature image via @penguinbooksaus
