+44 (0)7906 642 003
A STORY REDISCOVERED
40 years after Hollywood actor Sal Mineo tried and failed to get a movie version made, writer-producer David McGillivray read a new biography of Mineo, which includes a long chapter on The Wrong People.
David had been aware of Mineo’s attempts to film the book since 1973.
​
After re-reading The Wrong People, David was convinced the time had come for a film of Maugham’s gripping thriller.
In 2017 he secured the screen rights and wrote a new screenplay, which has received the blessing of the late Sal Mineo's partner, Courtney Burr - “I enjoyed your script very much. I found the characters clear, distinctive and true to my memory of the book” - and Robin Maugham’s former partner, William Lawrence.
A DARK TALE OF TEMPTATION AND CORRUPTION
SECRETLY PUBLISHED.
​
ROBIN MAUGHAM’S SCANDALOUS NOVEL IS ABOUT TO SHOCK A NEW GENERATION.
Set in the UK and Morocco in 1966, The Wrong People follows English schoolmaster Arnold Turner. On holiday in Tangier, he is drawn into the dangerous world of Clarence Baird.
A rich and unscrupulous expatriate, Baird entraps Turner into bringing him a troubled pupil from his approved school so that he can be groomed.
The monstrous plan, involving a dead-of-night kidnapping and a secret passage to Marseille, has a shockingly unexpected conclusion.
​
The novel has been rediscovered and reassessed in recent years in light of investigations into historic child abuse. It was republished in 2019 by Valancourt Books.
