A YEAR after a former lawyer secured a record £1.5-million for her first children’s book, Ridley Scott, who made the Oscar-winning blockbuster Gladiator, has paid a reported $5 million (£2.7 million) to bring it to life on the big screen.

Michelle Paver, 44, an Oxford graduate who gave up a successful City career to write, was surprised to have signed one of the largest book-to-film deals in the industry. Chronicles of Ancient Darkness is set 6,000 years ago in a primeval forest populated by groups of hunter-gatherers. Torak, 12, and his wolf ally battle evil to save their world.

The Chronicles, a series of six books, are on course to emulate the success of the Harry Potter films. While the magic in the Chronicles is not of the Harry Potter kind, the huge interest in Ms Paver’s book owes much to the success of the Potter tales.

Scott has bought the rights to each of the six books, even though only one, Wolf Brother, has been published so far. It sold more than 100,000 copies in hardback in Britain within weeks of its publication in September. The second book, titled Spirit Walker, will be released this September. Rights have been sold to more than 30 countries.

Scott said yesterday: “Wolf Brother is an enchanting book. Michelle has created a world that we have not seen before in any previous film.” Casting is yet to begin, but A-list actors are always drawn to Scott. Ms Paver hopes that Sir Ian McKellen, who recorded the audiotape of the book, may take the role of a character called Walker.

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