THE PEACOCK AND THE SPARROW Book To Receive Film Adaptation From Producers Scott Delman and Zanne Devine

Thirteen-time Tony Award-winning producer Scott Delman and Zanne Devine have optioned The Peacock and the Sparrow, the multi-award-winning debut spy thriller from former CIA operations officer I.S. Berry, for an upcoming feature film adaptation. 

Set during the Arab Spring in Bahrain, The Peacock and the Sparrow follows a CIA spy whose mission goes awry as he becomes entangled in murder, conspiracy, and an unpredictable revolution. Casting and full creative team details for the film will be announced at a later date.

Released in 2023, the novel has received rave reviews and several accolades, including the Times Thriller of the Year, the Telegraph Thriller of the Year, and a New Yorker, Financial Times, Guardian, and NPR best book of the year. It won the 2024 Edgar Award, International Thriller Writers Award, Barry Award, and Macavity Award for Best First Novel. 

Delman and Devine said, “The Peacock and the Sparrow is one of the most exciting new novels we’ve read in years, and there was never a doubt in our minds that the story demanded to be told on film. We’re overjoyed to be bringing I.S. Berry’s essential and heart-pounding story to the screen.” 

Berry is currently working on a second spy novel related to The Peacock and the Sparrow, inspired by true events, that follows a half-British, half-Iraqi woman as she penetrates an Al Qaeda cell in Europe and becomes a double agent during the Global War on Terror.

I.S. Berry spent six years as an operations officer for the CIA, serving in wartime Baghdad and elsewhere. She has lived and worked throughout Europe and the Middle East, including two years in Bahrain during the Arab Spring. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia School of Law and Haverford College. Raised in the suburbs of Washington, DC, she lives in Virginia with her husband and son.

The Peacock and the Sparrow is the latest in the roster of upcoming projects for the producers. Delman, who executive-produced the HBO miniseries “Station Eleven” (adapted from the novel of the same title by Emily St. John Mandel), is developing a scripted series for Lionsgate based on the book Billion Dollar Fantasy, as well as the inside story of the Shohei Ohtani gambling scandal. Youngblood, Devine’s remake of the ice hockey classic, will be released this March.