Unpublished ‘Tupperware erotica’ novel prompts fierce contest for TV rights

Interest in Wet Ink by Abigail Avis is part of a trend for works by female authors among streamers and production companies.

A much-hyped novel about a housewife who uses Tupperware parties to secretly smuggle erotic stories to her friends and neighbours is causing a stir in the television world, igniting a fierce bidding contest over the right to adapt it for the small screen.

Wet Ink, a novel by the 33-year-old London-based author Abigail Avis, is not scheduled to be published until the spring 2027, but industry insiders said a fierce auction between six major production companies had already taken place for the TV rights.

Those interested in the project have called the novel “Tupperware erotica”, and the frenzied interest is part of a recent spate of books by female authors to prompt huge competition for their TV rights as streamers and production companies search for bankable titles that can be sold around the world.

The battle follows a similar contest over the publishing rights for the novel, which eventually went to Hodder & Stoughton, owned by Hachette UK, for a six-figure fee. The publisher is already planning a global marketing blitz.

Set in 1960s London, Wet Ink charts the literary ambitions of a housewife weary of the mind-numbing monotony of her life. Photograph: The Advertising Archives

Set in 1960s London, the book charts the literary ambitions of Mitzy Barlow, a housewife and mother-of-two stranded in a loveless marriage who has grown weary of the mind-numbing monotony of her life.

She begins hosting Tupperware parties – ubiquitous events in the 1950s and 60s – to make some extra income from selling the plastic containers to women in her neighbourhood.

However, she soon begins to combine her role as hostess with a burgeoning career as a writer of sexual fantasies, which she starts to compose each night in a journal to help her deal with the bleakness of her marriage.

As her confidence grows, Mitzy begins writing her own stories under the pseudonym Queen B. Before long, her part-time job selling Tupperware becomes a cover for smuggling erotic stories to her customers, with the stories stashed safely inside the airtight containers.

As her alter ego finds success, Mitzy is left with a dilemma over pursuing a different life, fraught with the danger of being accused of indecency.

The novel’s TV rights were eventually secured by Kudos, part of Banijay UK, one of the world’s biggest production companies. It has been behind programmes including the Netflix series The House of Guinness, and the BBC’s This Town and SAS Rogue Heroes.

"We are thrilled to have acquired the rights to Abigail’s novel. She is a brilliantly talented writer, and Wet Ink is a must read. We cannot wait to get started on developing it into a TV series for both the UK and international market.”

Karen Wilson - Joint MD of Kudos

Insiders said the demand was a sign of the continuing importance to production companies of hunting down new content, as competition has intensified with the rise of the streamers. There has also been a recent trend of books by female writers to be the subject of ferocious auctions.

Industry sources said that in another such contest, 21 offers had already been made. The field for that title has been whittled down to a final 10, described as “a roll-call of glittery producers”. The book in question has not even been finished.

Another novel, Death’s a Bitch by the debut author Eloise Rodger, was acquired earlier this year by another Banijay-backed producer, after international interest led to intense competition for the rights.

The novel follows Aggie and the plight of her younger sister Marcie, who has faced a long illness and endless waiting lists. Death offers Aggie a job that will ensure Marcie survives.

Avis, who studied and taught English literature before entering a fellowship with The Royal Literary Fund, has said the idea for Wet Ink came to her during one of her children’s midnight feeds. Her agent, Hayley Steed, said that in selling the book rights she had never seen a reaction like it.

“Within mere hours we were turning down international pre-empts and it has broken agency records around the globe. Abigail has written a book that encapsulates the perfect book club read; an empowering call to arms, a warm story of female community and friendship, and just the right amount of naughtiness with its snippets of erotica.”

Hayley Steed - Abigail Avis' agent

By Michael Savage

Published: 26 December 25

Credit to The Guardian