Gabrielle Anwar to star in LMN adaptation of 'Nora Roberts’ Carnal Innocence'

Major news for followers of the Lifetime Movie Network (LMN) adaptations of Nora Roberts’ romantic suspense novels appeared quite inconspicuously buried under “Industry Bits” in the Dallas-Fort Worth Tribune today, January 20, 2011. According to the Tribune, actress Gabrielle Anwar will play Caroline Waverly in a new LMN television adaptation of Nora Roberts’ novel, Carnal Innocence.

Anwar has just completed filming of A Warrior’s Heart, in which she plays Claire Sullivan. Her other recent roles include that of Fiona Glenanne in the television series Burn Notice and Nina in the 2010 film The Family Tree. The Tribune adds that casting is now underway for Carnal Innocence's male lead, who will take on the role of Tucker Longstreet.

The Nora Roberts Examiner has not been able to locate any information confirming the Tribune’s announcement; and it is surprising indeed that news of additional Lifetime film adaptations of Roberts’ works would not be more widely publicized. However, entries on Goodreads  and on InDeath.net reveal that both Carnal Innocence and True Betrayals were originally considered for inclusion in the 2009 series of Nora Roberts’ Lifetime movies.

Carnal Innocence, which Nora Roberts wrote for Bantam in 1991, does have the requisite romance and intrigue that would make it an excellent candidate for a Lifetime adaptation. In this work, concert violinist Caroline Waverly returns to her grandparents’ home in Innocence, Mississippi to escape from both personal and professional pressures. There she becomes attracted to charming and aristocratic Tucker Longstreet, whose former lover, Edda Lou Hatinger, soon becomes the first victim of a serial killer.

One hopes that additional information about the Carnal Innocence film will soon be released. Will this be the first of four films to compose a 2011 Lifetime Collection, as was the case in 2007 and in 2009? Will True Betrayals also be adapted? What other works will be included? These are only a few of the questions raised by today's article in the Dallas-Fort Worth Tribune.