Books that have come to life on the small screen

Which is better, the book, the mini series or the movie?

It’s an ongoing debate that pops up each time a story makes the transition from our bookshelves onto our screens. The beauty of books is that readers get to exercise their imagination beyond the descriptions of characters and settings created by the author. It’s when directors and actors add their own ‘twist’ to the characters in our heads that the debate begins.

There are a number of new adaptations that are being made and have either just launched, or will be gracing our screens in coming months. Today we’re having a look at some of the wonderful stories that either just have, or will be, coming to life.

Be sure to share in the comments below which has been your favourite book-to-movie (or mini series) transition.

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

Starring Nicole Kidman, Melissa McCarthy, Luke Evans, Samara Weaving, and Manny Jacinto, a great cast is coming together to bring Liane Moriarty’s Nine Perfect Strangers to our screens.

One house. Nine strangers. Ten days that will change everything. The retreat at health-and-wellness resort Tranquillum House promises total transformation.

Nine stressed city dwellers are keen to drop their literal and mental baggage, and absorb the meditative ambience while enjoying their hot stone massages.

Miles from anywhere, without cars or phones, they have no way to reach the outside world. Just time to think about themselves, and get to know each other.

Watching over them is the resort’s director, a woman on a mission. But quite a different one from any the guests might have imagined. For behind the retreat’s glamorous facade lies a dark agenda. These nine perfect strangers have no idea what’s about to hit them.

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Little Fires Everywhere has been made into a tv series staring Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington, both of whom also executive produced the show, alongside Liz Tigelaar, Lauren Neustadter, and Pilar Savone.

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down. In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned, from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principal is playing by the rules. Enter Mia Warren, an enigmatic artist and single mother, who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons. Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants. All four Richardson children are drawn to the alluring mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community. When the Richardsons’ friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town and puts Mia and Mrs. Richardson on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Mrs. Richardson becomes determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs to her own family, and Mia’s.

The Outsider by Stephen King

The Outsider is an American horror crime drama mini series based on the novel by Stephen King. It stars Ben Mendelsohn, Bill Camp, Paddy Considine, Julianne Nicholson, Jason Bateman (who also happened to direct the first two episodes) and Cynthia Erivo.

When an eleven year old boy is found murdered in a town park, reliable eyewitnesses undeniably point to the town’s popular Little League coach, Terry Maitland, as the culprit. DNA evidence and fingerprints confirm the crime was committed by this well-loved family man. Horrified by the brutal killing, Detective Ralph Anderson, whose own son was once coached by Maitland, orders the suspect to be arrested in a public spectacle. But Maitland has an alibi. And further research confirms he was indeed out of town that day. As Anderson and the District Attorney trace the clues, the investigation expands from Ohio to Texas. And as horrifying answers begin to emerge, so King’s propulsive story of almost unbearable suspense kicks into high gear. Terry Maitland seems like a nice guy but there is one rock-hard fact, as unassailable as gravity: a man cannot be in two places at the same time. Can he?

Survive by Alex Morel

Love is a force of nature. What makes you fight to stay alive? The movie version of Survive stars Sophie Turner and is a gripping adventure story that will have you on the edge of your seat from the first chapter. Jane is running away from everything. From the facility she’s been living in, from her pain, from her guilt, from life. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination does not matter she doesn’t plan to be alive when the plane lands. Jane has planned the perfect suicide. She’ll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. But as she’s reaching for her pills in the tiny bathroom, the plane hits turbulence. Another jolt, the engine’s down. The plane crashes into the cold, remote mountains of Montana, and Jane and a boy named Paul are the only two survivors. It took a brush with death to make Jane realise that she didn’t want to die. But now there is snow, mountains, cliffs, little food and no water standing between life and death. And suddenly it’s not just Jane. There is another person in the equation and she needs to get them both to safety. She needs them both to survive.

Defending Jacob by William Landay

Chris Evans and Michelle Dockery star in the mini series version of this gripping story by Willian Landay.

When a teenaged boy is discovered stabbed to death in the woods adjoining the local high school, a wave of shock ripples through the suburban community of Newton, outside of Boston. Assistant district attorney Andy Barber is used to dealing with murder and its after efffects, but with his own son, Jacob, also a student at the school, he too is anxious for a swift arrest and conviction. But as the kids appear to be stonewalling the cops and the investigation stalls, evidence emerges that ties Jacob to the crime and suddenly Andy faces a very different challenge: preventing his son from being convicted of murder. Together with his wife, Laurie, the family closes ranks in the midst of an increasingly hostile community as Andy prepares for the trial of his life, the one trial he cannot afford to lose. Especially when the emergence of his own dark family secrets threatens to undermine Jacob’s defence. And as the drama reaches its climax, Andy and Laurie have to face every parent’s toughest questions: how well do you really know your own child, and how far would you go to save them?

I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb

Around the world, millions of readers have been captivated by Wally Lamb’s incredible talent in representing the lost and the lonely. It’s the story of Dominick Birdsey, whose entire life has been shaped by anger and fear, by the paranoid schizophrenic twin brother that he deeply loves and resents. The two brothers share a family history that includes an adoptive father, Ray, and a long-suffering mother, Concettina, a timid woman with a harelip and a huge desire to protect her troubled son, Thomas, as the demons of his schizophrenia become increasingly apparent. But as Thomas commits an act which sends him to strict confinement for the mentally ill, Dominick’s life spins even further out of control. He attempts to come to terms with the desire to rescue his brother and fears about his own psychological health and his inability to love. Dominick’s journey is illuminated, and further complicated, by a fable-like account of his grandfather Domenico Onofrio Tempesta’s life. As Dominick continues to face the pain of loss, he must rebuild himself in the shadow of his twin, and come to grips with his anger in order to forgive.

On screen you’ll see Mark Ruffalo play both Dominick and his brother Thomas in the mini series adaptation.

Of course, there is one other new addition to our screens, which has been eagerly awaited in our household…The Babysitters Club. The Babysitters Club books have been treasured stories for many generations and have undergone adaptations to graphic novels (you can check those out here) along with launching on Netflix in the past few weeks.

Enjoy!