It is one of the most difficult of Alasdair Gray's acclaimed novels, a group of interlinked stories based around a series of sado-masochistic lesbian trysts.

Now, however, one of the most hotly tipped new film-makers in the UK is to make a movie of Something Leather, the Glaswegian polymath's controversial 1990 novel.

Although Gray has written movie scripts for his landmark work Lanark, as well as Poor Things and The Fall of Kelvin Walker, no work by the writer, painter and illustrator has yet made it to the big screen.

But now Michelle Eastwood, chosen as one of the prestigious "Stars of Tomorrow" by Screen Daily, is to adapt the book for her debut feature, backed with cash from the UK Film Council.

Yorkshirewoman Ms Eastwood, who is based in London, was also picked as a "Trailblazer" talent at this year's Edinburgh International Film festival and her last short film, By The Grace of God, was given its debut at this year's Cannes film festival.

Something Leather is not a conventional novel, following, in a series of interconnected short stories, the lives of several characters in Glasgow, including a group of women - June, Senga, Donalda and Harriet, a cousin of the Queen - who are interested in sado-masochistic sexual activity.

Other characters include unhappy children, a tobacconist's family, a scrap dealer, a Lord Provost, a lighthouse keeper and a trained cormorant. There is also, as, one review said at the time, "embarrassing sexual detail".

It received mixed reviews on release and Gray added a note to its acknowledgments, saying: "I finally acknowledge that it was a bad idea to call this book Something Leather.

"It directed the attention of half the critics who noticed the novel to Chapters 1 and 12, so they reviewed it as if it was mainly a sado-masochistic lesbian adventure story.

"Had I called it Glaswegians, they might have paid more attention to the chapters from 2 to 11.

"However, for excellent publicity reasons this book will keep its bad name until it is forgotten."

Ms Eastwood, a producer at Escape Films, asked for permission from Gray to adapt the book for the screen.

She hopes it will be shot in Scotland, and he wished her well, even though it is not a book he ever considered could be made into a film.

The film will revolve around June, who works for the civil service, and Harriet, an English aristocrat and "dominatrix", and their unlikely and exotic relationship, based around a leather clothing shop in Glasgow. Ms Eastwood said the lead roles would be "juicy" enough to attract leading actresses to the project, which will have a budget in the low millions of pounds.

"It is a book that I have always liked and I am very pleased that the UK Film Council has helped me buy the option to make it into a film.

The book has an unusual structure, with one story surrounding a few other stories, and we will use a lot of flashback to make it work.

"The characters of June and Harry Harriet are so well-drawn by Gray it has always fascinated me. It's an interesting book and also very funny."

Gray said: "I hope she succeeds. It has never occurred to me to make Something Leather into a film, I must admit. My other scripts have never been made into films so I said to her: do your best!

"I could not give advice to her, especially as it is not a straightforward story; each chapter of the book is really a short story in itself. I still like it as a book.

"I think to make it work she will have to leave something out, but that is up to her." Scottish literature on screen The Thirty-Nine Steps John Buchan's 1915 novel has been made into a movie three times, notably by Alfred Hitchcock in 1935. Trainspotting Irvine Welsh's 1993 novel was made into a famous movie, which starred Ewan McGregor, in 1996. Morvern Callar The debut novel by Alan Warner was made into a film by Lynne Ramsay in 2002, starring Samantha Morton. Harry Potter JK Rowling's best selling children's novels have all become films. The latest, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, premiered this week. No 1 Ladies' Detective Agency Alexander McCall Smith's Mma Ramotswe made it to a TV show, its pilot directed by the late Anthony Minghella.