Brilliant Books With New Movie Adaptations To Watch Now!

The coming months has seen the release of many book adaptations, transformed into movies and TV series. And as we know, it’s always better to read the book first. So if you haven’t read these books yet, now’s the time.

Lessons in Chemistry arrived with a fanfare on Apple TV+. The series based on Bonnie Garmus’s acclaimed 2022 best seller stars Academy Award winner Brie Larson as the lead. Set in the early Sixties, the novel centers around Elizabeth Zott, a scientist who is sick of being limited to domestic duties.  This was a fabulous, much-loved book, particularly for its message of female empowerment.  Watch on Apple TV+

All the Light We Cannot See, the World War II novel by Anthony Doerr took home a slew of awards when it came out in 2014 including the Pulitzer Prize. It tells the story of a blind French girl and an orphaned German boy.  It stars Aria Mia Loberti, Hugh Laurie and Mark Ruffalo.  Watch on Netflix.

Happiness for Beginners, by Katherine Center became a New York Times bestseller in 2015 and is a now a rom-com that’s getting a lot of love on Netflix. Helen Carpenter is 32, divorced, and reluctantly attending a wilderness survival course because her brother talked her into it.  Watch on Netflix.

The Power is another empowering tale about women having agency, feeling safe and confident. It’s already out as an Amazon Prime series, starring Tony Collette, but read its New York Times best-selling inspiration by Naomi Alderman before watching.   When women everywhere discover a deadly power at their fingertips, society changes forever. 

Killers of the Flower Moon was a powerful non-fiction book by David Grann about a string of mysterious killings targeting members of the Osage Nation in 1920’s Oklahoma.  Director Martin Scorsese’s film adaptation is likely to be mesmerizing with a cast including Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons and John Lithgow.  Out in cinemas now and available to rent on Apple TV+

Other books being turned to film or TV this year include The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris, You Are So Not Invited to my BatMitzvah! by Fiona Rosenbloom, The Changeling by Victor LaValle, The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary, Survival of the Thickest by Michelle Buteau, The Great Hunt, by Robert Jordan, Hallowe’en Party by Agatha Christie, and Foe by Iain Reid.

Lucy Broadbent’s latest book How to be a Lioness (Not a Panda): Find Your Roar with the Women of Ted Lasso is out on Amazon here: