His & Hers. (L to R) Jon Bernthal as Detective Jack Harper and Tessa Thompson as Anna in Episode (Image: Courtesy of Netflix © 2025)
The TV adaptation of her third novel, His & Hers, stars actors Tessa Thompson and Jon Bernthal as two estranged spouses, one a detective and the other a news reporter, who vie to solve a murder in which each believes the other is a prime suspect.
Since its launch on Netflix last month it has been at number one in more than 80 countries, having been watched by 66.6 million people, with only Adolescence having beaten it for the speed and volume of viewers it has attracted. Despite the TV adaptation taking six years to complete, Alice says she was excited as soon as she read its script.
“The show was six years in the making and I’m so happy that it is finally out in the world and so proud of every single person who worked on it.
“I knew this one was special the first time I read the script back in 2021.
“Everything that has happened since has been a life highlight, not just a career highlight. It really is the stuff of dreams.”
She adds: “I was in Atlanta when the show was being filmed in 2024. When it comes to screen adaptations I like to be involved but never want to interfere. The best of the best worked on this show. The first time I arrived on set it felt like the most wonderful dream. Characters who had lived inside my head for years were suddenly walking and talking and asking me questions.
“Seeing my characters come to life was one of the most surreal moments of my life and nothing less than magic.”
Author Alice Feeney wrote Netflix hit His&Hers (Image: Brian Grant)
A decade ago Alice Feeney made the brave decision to quit a stable career as a BBC journalist to become a full-time author. After having had 10 years of rejections from publishers, landing an agent who believed in what was to become her first book, Sometimes I Lie, spurred her on to take the life-changing plunge. She had started that book eight years earlier, aged 30, on trains while commuting to her job in west London from her home in Essex.
And nine years later, having written eight thrillers, Alice, now 48, is struggling to come to terms with having hit the big league for global bestsellers, with TV and film studios adapting four of her books. She says: “I sometimes still struggle to believe any of this is real. I was always writing on the train to work and in my shed on days off.
“It’s 10 years since I got my agent, quit my job as a BBC journalist, and became a full-time author.
“After 10 years of rejections before that, one person believing in me completely chan-ged my life. It’s a debt I can never repay.”
Alice, who spent 16 years at the BBC as a reporter, news editor and then producer of the One O’Clock News, adds: “Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and tell the me from 20 years ago all the amazing things that would happen if she just kept writing.
“I don’t think she would have believed me. I often struggle to believe any of this is real even now.”
Alice, who lives with her husband and her black Labrador in south-west England, has cherished being able to finally show the Netflix show to her friends and family.
She says: “I’ve been telling everyone how much I love it since I saw the final finished episodes last year.
“It’s still such a thrill to turn on the television, hear the Netflix “tudum” and see one of my books right there on my TV screen. The show has resulted in new readers discovering my books too, which is also lovely.”
Her latest book, My Husband’s Wife, which is out now, tells the story of artist Eden Fox who goes for a run along the Cornish coast to calm her nerves on the eve of her first exhibition, but returns home to find her key doesn’t fit in the lock and a stranger opening the door – one who looks eerily like her.
Then Eden’s husband comes to the door and insists that this stranger is his wife.
Alice has been delighted by its instant success, saying: “Every author hopes their latest work might be their best work, and I’m so happy that this story has been so popular with my readers.
“They are who I write the books for, so knowing so many of them loved this one really does mean the world to me.”
The writer was recently pictured standing below a billboard sign for His & Hers in New York’s Times Square during her sold-out US book tour, before returning to the UK for more sold-out events.
She says: “January 2026 will always be one of the most magical months of my life.
“His & Hers landed on Netflix at the start of the year. Seeing giant moving billboards for the show in Times Square blew my mind a little bit, as did the show going straight to number one in 80 countries. My US book tour for My Husband’s Wife started shortly afterwards, closely followed by the UK tour.
“I miss my dog but it’s been the most wonderful whirlwind.
“I just feel so lucky and so grateful to have the best job in the world and I’m enjoying every minute.”
Her latest book was optioned for TV a year ago, before it was even edited, by Carnival and Universal Studios, who made The Day Of The Jackal and Downton Abbey.
Her previous book, Beautiful Ugly, is being adapted into a film by Hidden Pic-tures, who just made The Housemaid movie from Freida McFadden’s best-selling book. And her debut novel, Sometimes I Lie, is now with Tommy Harper, the producer of blockbuster film Top Gun: Maverick.
His&Hers book cover image (Image: Courtesy Macmillan Publishers)
Asked how she will cope with having been propelled into the top echelon of writers, Alice says: “I think all you can do as an author is try to write the best books that you can every year. After the tour I’ll be straight back to my desk.
“Nothing (except my dog) makes me happier than writing my books, and when I spend too long away from my desk I start to get twitchy. I always try to write the book I would most like to read, and then cross my fingers that readers will love the story as much as I hoped they would.”
Her year to remember is set to continue with Alice recently being named as one of the headliners of this summer’s Theakston Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, chaired this year by Lisa Jewell.
She will join big names including Ann Cleeves, Brenda Blethyn, David Baldacci and Anthony Horowitz at the world’s leading crime writing festival, supported by the Daily and Sunday Express, in July.
Alice says: “I’m chuffed to bits. It is such a wonderful festival. I’ve been a few times but never been invited to take part before, so I’m thrilled.”
My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney. For Heather Suttie’s book column (Image: Daily Record)
She adds: “I am actually a bit of a hermit in real life. I tend to be at my desk for 11 months of the year and then I’m allowed out for one month for good behaviour to tour and promote the book at publication time!
“I say no to events when I’m writing, and I’m always writing these days, so I say no a lot. But this is Harrogate.
“And I was invited by the wonderful Lisa Jewell. It’s a huge honour, so I’m breaking my own rules for this one.”
And true to form this hardworking “hermit” has already written her next book, which is set to come out next year.
She reveals: “I’m not allowed to talk about it yet, but I can tell you that it is a little dark, there are twists, and that there is a dog (because there is always a dog, and it is often a black Labrador like my dog).
“Spoiler alert – the dogs in my books will always be fine. I can’t promise the same about the humans.”
● My Husband’s Wife by Alice Feeney (Macmillan hardback, £16.99) is out now. For more information on the Theakston
Old Peculier Crime Writing Festival, visit harrogateinternationalfestivals.com
Source link
