Edgy Mama

MERYL POSTER is the very smart former co- president of production at the old Miramax. She held sway for 16 years. After Harvey Weinstein shifted gears, leaving Miramax with Disney, Meryl amicably parted from Harvey and those duties. But did she rest? Not really. Looking for a good read, she picked up “Better Homes and Husbands” by Valerie Leff. Presto, she bought the rights and is now developing the property as a series for NBC. Becky Mode, who wrote the hit play “Fully Committed,” is to do the pilot. Like her former boss, Mr. Weinstein, Meryl has a never-ending fever to work all the time! –New York Post, February 20, 2006

Okay, Liz is more interested in this Meryl chick than in Valerie, but as Valerie said to me in an e-mail: “It was fun to be mentioned in the same article that discussed Jon Bon Jovi’s sex life and a review of the new production of ‘Barefoot in the Park.’”

Although Liz writes that Jon Bon’s sex life is rather tame. For a rock star. Whatever.

The Asheville Citizen-Times will be publishing a story about our local novelist hitting the big time in the next day or so. Though they’ll be bummed at being scooped by Edgy Mama.

So, everyone go buy a copy of Better Homes and Husbands now. It’s a wonderful read. AND, you’ll be in the know before anyone else. When the series hits the screen, you can say: “Of course I’m familiar with the book. Read it ages ago, sweetie.”

Congrats, Valerie!

P.S. A couple of you have asked me to say a bit more about the book. In all the excitement, I inadvertantly left that part out. The novel is a compilation of interrelated stories all set in a co-op building on New York’s Park Avenue. The characters range from a young woman knocked up by her father’s Jamaican chaffeur to a baroness living in the penthouse to a hilarious matchmaking Hispanic woman. The building becomes it’s own micro-organism, where,become intwined over time and space.