Yep, it's the next Gone Girl
Words by Julie Vuong
Described as a mashup of Gone Girl and Minority Report, Yesterday is set to be this year’s blockbuster book. Ready to fill that Girl on the Train-shaped hole in your life, it’s got murder, sex, asylums, plastic surgery and a dizzying array of twists and turns. Yes, it bears all the hallmarks of that killer read you’ve been waiting for.
Written by former Cambridge historian and model, Felicia Yap, Yesterday is set in an alternate reality where people are split into Monos, who can only remember yesterday, and Duos, who can recall the last 48 hours. So, when a beautiful young woman is found murdered, how do you solve it if you can only recall yesterday?
Hooked? You’re not the only one. Yap sealed a massive six-figure book deal for Yesterday after a fierce bidding war, then signed up Rory Kinnear and Game of Thrones star Indira Varma to voice the audiobook – and now has Hollywood knocking on her door for the film rights. 'My agent is already turning down offers!' she says, stunned. 'Right now, I’m holding out for the right team.'
Yap’s story to publishing stardom is itself the stuff of Hollywood dreams. Having enrolled in the Faber Academy’s Novel-Writing course, she sparked the interest of 24 agents before her student days had even wrapped up.
'To finish my manuscript, I booked myself into a hotel at London City Airport for five days, and on the last day at 5pm I sent it off to agents. Three weeks later, I had a book deal.' Yap was signed by ‘super-agent’ Jonny Geller at Curtis Brown and is already working on the prequel to Yesterday, called Today.
Yesterday, published in hardback by Wildfire, is out now.
