Winona Ryder could soon be offered the chance to star in a new film penned by a south Essex author.

Sheila Tibbs's first novel, Isobel, has been snapped up by the Screenplay Agency's Book to Film department in New York and could soon be touted around Hollywood.

Mrs Tibbs, 44, from Rochford, said: "I have now got an agent in New York and they are trying to sell it.

"My daughter found them on the internet and you had to fill in a form with a brief description about the film.

"Luckily they came back and said they wanted the whole manuscript.

"It seems to have escalated and taken off. I'm still waiting for negative comments to come back to me, but none have.

It is really exciting. It all seems like I am going to pinch myself and wake up."

Isobel is a chilling tale, set in Canewdon, where a couple foster a sever-year-old child.

However, the mother soon begins to question whether her new daughter is a witch.

There are four main characters and Sheila has been having fun thinking about who could play each part.

So far, she has mentally lined up Winona Ryder as the main female lead and someone like the late Superman actor Christopher Reeve to play her husband.

For the priest and central character of Isobel, she is open to suggestions.

The book, which has been described as a cross between the Hand That Rocks the Cradle and a Stephen King novel, is now available through Waterstone's in Southend.