A Hebden Bridge independent publisher has received a surprise Hollywood boost with the news that its title, Leonard and Hungry Paul, by Irish author Rónán Hession is to be narrated by long-term fan Julia Roberts in an upcoming BBC TV adaptation.
The Julia Roberts narration news is the latest in a long line of improbable connections with the Pretty Woman star, who made her love of the 2019 book known to the publishers some time ago, as Bluemoose Books co-founder Kevin Duffy explained to BBC Radio Leeds over the weekend:
“We published the book in 2019 and it went on to become a kind of best seller. We then sold the foreign rights to an American company, and she read the book in 2020, September, 2020, in America,” he explained to Rima Ahmed. “I was having Sunday lunch with my two lads and my wife Heather in the old gate pub in Hebden Bridge, and I got this message from someone purporting to be Julia Roberts’ PA. So I just deleted it, thinking it was one of my mates taking the mickey. She then got in touch about half an hour later and just said ‘Google my name.’ So I did Google name, and then I spat a roast potato across the tabl – “Oh, my God, I’ve just deleted Julie Roberts.’”
Duffy continued: “So Julia wanted to get in touch with Rónán because she loved the book so much. She wanted to thank him for writing it which, since the book is about kindness, I just thought was kind of lovely symmetry. And we know we hadn’t sent her the book. She just did it off her own back. She loved it. Got in touch with us to say, you know, she wanted to speak to Ronan.”
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The Hollywood a-lister did indeed contact the author, and all was quiet for a while, until a few years down the line the book is being adapted into a six-part TV series by the BBC. Duffy takes up the unlikely story once more: “I was over in Dublin at the end of May watching the filming, and I just kind of recanted the tale to the producers, and they just thought, ‘well, let’s just try it. Let’s just get in touch with her.’ And within two hours of receiving the email, she got back in touch with the producers and said she’d love to narrate it. Julia Roger, what wonderful human being, because you know, and it’s the first time she’s ever done anything with the BBC as well.”
The book follows the lives of two quiet men in their, that normally no one would notice, who navigate the maelstrom of life in the 21st Century by just doing small acts of kindness. Their lives change when Leonard’s mum dies and Hungry Paul’s sister gets married. It may sound uneventful, but the book has captured the imagination of readers, including Roberts and the BBC, selling around 350,000 copies worldwide.
Roberts is not a complete stranger to the region – she has previously attended games at Manchester United, much to the chagrin of long-time admirer and Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, and also made an appearance at 2024’s MediaCity-based Children in Need. This is believed to be her first direct association with Hebden Bridge, however, the quaint Pennine town previously best known for clogs, an unfathomably large selection of second-hand book, clothes and antique shops for such a small town, and serving as an escape route for middle-aged hippies escaping the urban sprawl of Manchester.
Image: Julia Roberts at Venice Film Festival, 2025, Colleen Sturtevant/Creative Commons
