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Leigh Bardugo ’97: A novelist’s fantasy comes true.

By the staff | 9:41am September 13 2012

In a land beset by darkness and evil, a young girl discovers a hidden power within herself and is chosen to join the elite magical group fighting to save their country.

In the land of southern California, DreamWorks discovers the debut fantasy novel of Leigh Bardugo ’97 and chooses it to join the elite group of young-adult film projects fighting to save their box office.

“Sure, I hoped that someone might take an interest in making Shadow and Bone into a film,” Bardugo writes on her blog. After all the book—which the New York Times calls “a mesmerizing exploration of one of the most potent fantasy novel motifs”—is selling well. But that someone is not just anyone, Entertainment Weekly reports: it’s Harry Potter producer David Heyman.

The deal, announced September 12, is “just not the kind of thing you let yourself hope for,” Bardugo writes, “because, really, what are the chances?”

The hero’s not-yet-famous name: Alina Starkov. And yes, the book is the first in a trilogy.

 

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