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Have we come up with a name yet for Emily Henry fans? Hen-heads? E-readers? Book Lovers?
Regardless of the title, lovers of Henry’s swoon-heavy romance novels have a reason to rejoice today. According to Variety, a film version of Henry’s most recent novel, Funny Story, is in the works — with Henry at the helm to turn her New York Times bestseller into an on-screen version.
This isn’t the first time Henry’s books have been tapped for screen projects. Currently, three of her other popular adult romances — People We Meet On Vacation, Book Lovers, and Beach Read — are being developed into films. Meanwhile, Henry’s fourth novel, Happy Place, is in production at Netflix as a series. The author is a titan in the romance industry, having sold more than 3 million books in North America alone.
In Funny Story, buttoned-up Daphne loves her relationship with her fiancé Peter. She’s got a ring, the love of her life, and a new life in Peter’s waterfront hometown. And Peter loves Daphne, that is until he realizes that he’s actually in love with his best friend Petra. In a move that’s a testament to always keeping your apartment, Daphne finds herself in Peter’s hometown without the man who brought her there, and forced to live with the only person in Waning Bay, Michigan who knows what she’s going through: Her new roommate, Petra’s ex Miles. When the two decide to fake date to make their respective— and now together— exes jealous, the work of sharing a small space and a fake life swirl into a classic Henry text: one most readers can’t put down.
Henry’s books often use well-loved romance tropes like exes to lovers, forced proximity, or friends-to-lovers, to chart her characters’ lives, motivations, and eventually love stories. “In readers, in fiction, we’re seeing this huge resurgence of an appreciation for earnestness and ardor after what felt like forever of irony,” she previously told Rolling Stone. “You might not have had a red scarf, but you maybe lent a favorite book or album to someone or left a sweatshirt over at their house. It’s like everybody knows that feeling of giving a piece of yourself, or something really important, to another person. That feeling of wanting it back but also wanting it to haunt them a little bit.”
Lyrical Media and Ryder Picture Company will produce the film, according to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.