Amanda Craig novel The Three Graces to be developed for TV
- Amanda Craig's comic novel about octogenarians who become involved in a Tuscany crime is being adapted for TV
- The Three Graces has been optioned by Monumental Television, the producers of Ghosts
- Producer Alison Owen says: "This feels like the perfect novel for us to collaborate on"
The Three Graces, Amanda Craig's comic novel about octogenarians who become involved in a Tuscany crime, is being developed for television.
Broadcast reports that Monumental Television, the producers of Ghosts, have optioned the project.
Published in June to critical acclaim, The Three Graces focuses on three very different octogenarian friends who have moved to Tuscany for a retirement in the sunshine.
The book's blurb explains: "When Enzo shoots an illegal migrant from his bedroom one night, it triggers a series of events that embroil old and young, rich and poor, native and foreign. His elderly neighbours Ruth, Diana and Marta are three friends who have retired to Tuscany. Ruth's favourite grandson Olly is about to get married from her idyllic hillside farmhouse; however, the bride, Tania, seems curiously unengaged by anything but vlogging as a social media influencer. Marta, preparing to give the annual music recital sponsored by a Russian oligarch in hiding from Putin, is increasingly unwell, and her grandson, Xan, is full of resentment at the inequalities he encounters. Diana is nursing her husband, Lord Evenlode, and looking back over a long and troubled marriage.
"Over two weeks in May, all these characters will face challenging choices as they grapple with their own past and with present dangers. For although the Tuscan spring looks as ravishing as a Renaissance painting, the realities of modern life make it harder and harder to believe that there is more that unites us than what keeps us apart."
The book's title is based on Antonio Canova Neoclassical sculpture in marble, of the mythological three Charites, daughters of Zeus. The illustration on the cover of the book (pictured above) also spoofs the statue.
Amanda Craig describes Monumental co-founder Alison Owen as "the perfect person to bring my three 80-plus-year-old heroines to a wider audience."
Owen herself says: "We have been fans of Amanda's work for a long time, and this feels like the perfect novel for us to collaborate on."
The TV comedy drama is currently in the early stages of development and has not yet been commissioned by a channel.