A24 Options ‘HappyHead’ Author Josh Silver’s Debut Adult Novel ‘Fruit Fly’ For TV

EXCLUSIVE: A24 UK has won the rights to adapt Fruit Fly, the debut adult novel from author Josh Silver.

Silver will be an EP on the TV series, which comes following what we understand was a competitive bidding process.

Fruit Fly follows Mallory, a literary sensation who after years of struggling with writer’s block is desperate to revive her career before it slips into obscurity. Inspiration strikes in the form of Leo, a young addict sleeping under bridges and trading sex for survival, who is exactly what Mallory has been looking for. The book, which is already out in the UK and publishes in the U.S. and Canada on August 4, is described as a “provocative literary satire that explores privilege, modern queer identity, and the moral exploitation of pain in the publishing industry” by its publisher.

Silver is well known in the YA world for his dystopian duology starting with HappyHead then Dead Happy. The queer psychological thrillers were highly rated and HappyHead was optioned in 2023 by Taron Egerton and Range Media Partners. Following another YA book, TraumaLand, Fruit Fly is Silver’s first novel for adults.

Silver described A24 as the “perfect home for this story.” The UK division, which is run by Piers Wenger and Rose Garnett, has had a busy year optioning novels for TV and has been pushing further into the queer literature space, having also optioned Alexis Hall’s Boyfriend Material. Other recent deals include Patrick Radden Keefe’s London Falling, Laura Shepherd-Robinson’s We Are the Dead and Marie-Claire Chappet’s Broken Toys. Upcoming A24 UK projects include Apple TV’s Husbands with Juno Temple and Richard Gadd, Michaela Coel’s new series First Day on Earth, and Molly Manning Walker’s Major Players for Channel 4.

Fruit Fly is published by Oneworld and Crooked Lane Books.