Bestselling novel 'Where the Crawdads Sing' is being adapted into a feature film.
Development on the project is making good headway as a writer, director and producers have already been found.
The book follows Kya, known by locals as the "Marsh Girl", who is forced to fight for survival when her family abandons their home. She eventually makes some allies and even finds love, though it leads to disappointment. Later in life, she is accused of murdering the "golden boy" of her nearby town.
The movie will be "both a crime thriller and a coming-of-age tale that intertwines two timelines."
Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter are producing via their banner Hello Sunshine for 3000 Pictures.
Hello Sunshine was a producer on such series as 'Big Little Lies', 'The Morning Show' and 'Little Fires Everywhere.' Its movie credits include 'Wild' and 'Gone Girl'.
Witherspoon sang the praises of the novel in her book club from just weeks after it was published.
Olivia Newman, who wrote and directed the Netflix movie 'First Match', will helm the Sony feature.
Oscar-nominated 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' scribe Lucy Alibar is penning the script.
'Where the Crawdads Sing' is the debut novel of Delia Owens.
It has dominated the New York Times bestsellers list since it was published in 2019 and was the most-sold fiction book on Amazon last year.
