MOVIES - Feb. 3, 1989

“Waverly Place,” Susan Brownmiller’s new novel that is a fictional retelling of the Steinberg case (abused child/battered mother), has been optioned for feature film production by independent producer Susan Pollack. (Disbarred attorney Joel Steinberg was convicted of manslaughter this week in New York in the beating death of his illegally adopted 6-year-old daughter, Elizabeth.) The novel, which has a 100,000 first-printing run, has also been chosen by the Literary Guild as a main selection, and the Ladies Home Journal has purchased first serial rights.