EXCLUSIVE: Blink49 Studios has secured rights to adapt the debut novel of Eliza Reid, Iceland‘s former First Lady, as a TV series.
The Fifth Season-backed company is working with Icelandic co-producer Truenorth and writer Lynne Kamm (Plan B) to adapt Death on the Island as a six-part show.
Billed as a “twist-filled mystery thriller,” Death on the Island is set in the high-stakes world of diplomacy. Per the synopsis, “When the Canadian ambassador’s deputy collapses at a remote Icelandic soirée, suspicions swirl, and his wife, Jane Shearer, decides to take matters into her own hands.
“Partnering with an ambitious young Icelandic detective, Jane uncovers a web of secrets, corruption, and betrayal stretching from Reykjavik’s elite to the heart of her own marriage. As the danger mounts and the truth threatens powerful interests, Jane must choose: protect the illusion or risk everything to unmask a killer.”
The project stems from Blink49’s joint venture with North American lit management firm Transatlantic, which sees the pair leverage the latter’s roster of authors and IP to develop and project screen projects. Blink49 will be the lead studio and takes worldwide rights.
Carolyn Newman and Rankin from Blink49 are exec producing alongside Samantha Haywood and Laura Cameron from Transatlantic, Kristinn Thordarson and Leifur B. Dagfinnsson from Truenorth, Kamm and Reid.
Canadian-Icelandic writer Reid was Iceland’s First Lady between 2016 and 2024 through her marriage to former President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson. Before her political life, she was a magazine journalist and freelance writer. Death on the Island marks her first novel. Her non-fiction book, Secrets of the Sprakkar: Iceland’s Extraordinary Women and How They Are Changing the World, was a bestseller in Iceland and Canada.
The book, which is planned as the first in a series, was published yesterday (April 29) in Canada by Simon & Schuster and is set for release in the U.S. by Sourcebook on May 13. A UK release has been scheduled for June 5. In Iceland, it instantly became a bestseller when released in March.
“I’m incredibly excited to see my debut novel come to life on the small screen,” said Reid. “Death on the Island brings together my love of diplomatic intrigue, mystery, and my adopted home, Iceland. I’m thrilled to share this world, and looking forward to it resonating with viewers around the world.”
Blink49 exec producer Virginia Rankin said the book was a “compelling, high-stakes story that blends international intrigue, a complex female lead, and a richly atmospheric setting which is exactly the kind of storytelling we’re passionate about bringing to life for a global audience.”
Kamm noted that Reid had set the book “in a world she knows like no-one else,” creating “up a deliciously deadly cocktail of diplomacy, dysfunction, and murder.”
Reid is repped by Samantha Haywood with Laura Cameron at Transatlantic and Kamm is repped by Luber Roklin Entertainment and Anonymous Content.
Interestingly, this isn’t the only project from a former country leader’s spouse or ex-spouse on the market. Back in January, we told you about ‘Closer Together: Knowing Ourselves, Loving Each Other’, a memoir-cum-manifesto from former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s former partner Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, which is getting the doc series treatment.
