Most authors only dream about their books being made into major motion pictures.

For Wilmington-based author Marisa de los Santos, it happened with her first.

“Love Walked In,” de los Santos’ first novel, will be made into a movie co-produced by “Sideways” producer Michael London and starring actress Sarah Jessica Parker.

Parker will play protagonist Cornelia Brown, a Philadelphia café manager who compares her life to moments in 1940s movies and is searching for a man as suave as Cary Grant. When Martin Grace strolls into her café, she thinks she’s found that man.

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Across town, 11-year-old Clare Hobbes is struggling to care for herself as her bipolar mother becomes increasingly unstable. Desperate, Clare searches for her estranged father, who happens to be Martin Grace. That’s when Clare meets a friend who changes her life — Cornelia.

“The heart of the book is the relationship between Cornelia and Clare,” de los Santos said. “They really connect very quickly.”

The narrative alternates between Cornelia’s story, told in the first person, and Clare’s in the third. De los Santos beautifully interweaves the two narratives, reminding us that life and love never follow the expected path.

“A lot of times we think happiness is easy,” de los Santos said. “Cornelia discovers you have to work for happiness. You have to make hard decisions and take curve balls that are thrown at you.”

De Los Santos signing

» Venue: Barnes and Noble Power Plant, 601 Pratt St., Baltimore

» Time: 2 p.m. Saturday

» Tix: Free

» Info: 410-385-1709

kvorce@baltimoreexaminer.com