Breaking Film & TV News: SUMMER AT VILLA HILDA heads to screen!

We’re thrilled to announce that SUMMER AT VILLA HILDA, the delightful novel by Michaela von Kügelgen, has been optioned for film and television by Good Hand Production! Producers Roosa Toivonen, Petri Kemppinen and Inka Hietala are joining forces with co-production partners in Sweden, Norway, and the UK to bring the story to life as both a feature film and a series. The deal was closed by Elina Ahlbäck at the Elina Ahlback Literary Agency.

What a way to celebrate the publication week – SUMMER AT VILLA HILDA was published on Tuesday in both Swedish and Finnish by Schildts & Söderströms! Warmest congratulations, Michaela!

The producers fell in love with the story:

As soon as we read Villa Hilda we knew this kind of warm and positive, yet relatable and thoughtful content is desperately needed in today’s hectic and splintered existence, where worry about the environment and world crises is overwhelming and we all crave a bit of escapism and closure, but with meaningful relationships and epiphanies about life.

We are delighted and excited to embark on this journey of joy, redemption, forgiveness and love that the Villa Hilda books will offer to readers and audiences all around the world.

MAMMA MIA meets SEASIDE HOTEL in the lush summer nights of the archipelago between Sweden and Finland, where former celebrity chef Louise and world weary ex journalist Thomas arrive to revive a run-down, romantic wooden villa to its former glory as a fabulous restaurant and bed & breakfast retreat. With colourful characters including a charming handyman,  a beautiful divorcee and a charismatic older power lady with a secret, a summer of love, acceptance, mixed emotions and discoveries is about to begin.”

 

Good Hand Film & TV is a boutique house that produces quality films and drama series with an international edge. Their globally connected team of professionals brings together high-profile experience in film and TV development and co-production. The Good Hands team believes that today’s audiovisual industry lives of collaboration, nurturing a combination of varied skills and cross-generational sharing.

Book rights are still available in the UK, the US, France, Italy, Poland, Croatia, Czechia, Japan, Greece…

Download materials for SUMMER AT VILLA HILDA here!

Summer at Villa Hilda

Michaela von Kügelgen

Many people dream of a second chance in life, but how many dare to take it?

Far out in the Stockholm archipelago lies the island of Halsterö. Journalist Thomas and former celebrity chef Louise travel there to work at the Villa Hilda guesthouse. They are both broken after many setbacks and are hoping for a fresh start. But setting up a summer paradise is not as easy as one might think, not even on the idyllic Halsterö island.

One day Louise stumbles across a collection of old love letters. Who wrote them, and what stories does Villa Hilda hide in its dusty attic? And how will Thomas manage to take care of his dementia-stricken mother while setting up an archipelago guesthouse?

Summer at Villa Hilda is about how difficult it is to be human among other people, but also about how, with the help of others, one can find one’s way back to life.

This novel is the first part of the Villa Hilda series and was published on June 10th 2025. The following titles will concentrate on the people living on the picturesque Halsterö island and will tentatively be published in February 2026 and September 2026.