EXCLUSIVE: In a competitive situation, Sony’s 3000 Pictures has closed a deal for Pulitzer Prize-winning author Geraldine Brooks’ New York Times bestseller Horse. Based on the true story of the record-breaking racehorse Lexington and his enslaved groom, the novel tells the sweeping story that unfolds against the backdrop of modern-day race relations in America as an interracial couple embarks on a quest to uncover the mysteries of Lexington’s story.
Drew Reed, Sony’s head of Literary in New York, brought the novel into the studio and was instrumental in the deal. Elizabeth Gabler, Erin Siminoff and Aislinn Dunster are overseeing the project for the studio. Published by Viking, an imprint of Penguin Random House, Horse became an instant bestseller when it was released on June 14.
Australia-born Brooks worked as a reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Wall Street Journal, where she covered crises in the Mideast, Africa and the Balkans. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in fiction in 2006 for her second novel, March. Her first novel, Year of Wonders, is an international bestseller and has been translated into more than 25 languages and is under option to Olivia Colman. Her novels Caleb’s Crossing and People of the Book and The Secret Chord also were New York Times bestsellers.
3000 Pictures and Sony had quite a good summer, with Where the Crawdads Sing becoming one of the surprise hits of the season, bringing more than $100 million globally including $87 million domestically.
Brooks is represented by CAA.
