Author's 'extraordinary' film adaptation journey

An author who has had the film rights of her novel acquired by Reese Witherspoon's production company has described the experience as an "extraordinary journey".

Dorset writer Clare Leslie Hall's third book Broken Country is a Sunday Times and New York Times Bestseller and was published in 35 countries.

Witherspoon also selected it for her book club and, in an interview with Buzzfeed alongside Jennifer Aniston and a litter of puppies, said it made her cry.

Recalling how she found out about the film adaptation, Hall told the BBC: "I got an email from my agent, and she said I think you should sit down before you open this email."

She added: "Basically she says 'Reese wants to buy your film rights, and by Reese I mean Reese Witherspoon in case you didn't realise'."

The Oscar winner's Hello Sunshine company, which was previously behind the likes of Big Little Lies, Gone Girl, and Where the Crawdads Sing, alongside Sony's 3000 Pictures, wanted to adapt the "love story with the pulse of a thriller".

"They have these people called film scouts and when the novel goes on submission they're also reading it for their film studios," Hall explained.

"The following week they bought the film rights. It was a really amazing rollercoaster."

Witherspoon called Broken Country an "unforgettable story of love, loss, and the choices that shape our lives" and a "masterfully crafted mystery that will keep you guessing until the very last page".

She also joined Hall for a Q&A on the day of its publication.

Hall said the producers of the film had a mission "to put women's stories front and centre".

"They really care about their female authors and so it's an amazing thing to be part of, and they sort of champion women's stories, so it's been absolutely wonderful."

She also said local writers were working on the script.

"I couldn't get over it, so they get the whole [Thomas] Hardy sort of references and the landscape," she said.

Broken Country features a passionate love triangle unfolding in a small village in north Dorset in the 1960s.

The author, who lives in an old farmhouse in the Dorset countryside with her family, called the region "endlessly inspiring".

"My new novel is going to be set on the Jurassic coast so it's a sort of a bit of a change, but still the same county, and I just find it very kind of romantic and really, really inspiring," she said.

"Just the landscape that I live in… I can see it like a film set in my head."