In a competitive situation, Entertainment One has acquired the television rights to bestselling author Ann Patchett’s novel State of Wonder to develop as an event series. Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola’s King Bee Productions will produce the project with Lucy Donnelly.

Mortimer led the pursuit of the title for eOne, who will serve as the studio and handle international rights. Polly Williams and Jacqueline Sacerio will oversee the project for eOne. There are no current plans for Mortimer or Nivola to act in the series.

In State of Wonder, Dr Marina Singh journeys into the depths of the Amazon rain forest in search of her former mentor, veteran scientist Dr Annick Swenson, who has vanished while conducting research into the prolonged fertility of the women of an isolated Amazonian tribe. As Marina embarks upon this uncertain odyssey, she will be forced to surrender herself to the lush but forbidding world that awaits her in the darkest reaches of the rain forest.

State of Wonder was originally published in 2011 by Harper in the U.S. and Bloomsbury Publishing in the UK. The novel was nominated for the 2011 Wellcome Trust Book Prize and shortlisted for the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction.

Patchett is the author of seven novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder and Commonwealth. She is repped by ICM Partners.

Mortimer is repped by UTA and Lighthouse Management & Media.