Ttransposing literary works into television productions is a well-established practice e in the last period there are more and more TV series based on books that streaming platforms offer us. Here are the most beautiful and innovative that we can enjoy this summer under an umbrella.
The 10 most beautiful TV series based on books
1. The Crowded Room (Apple TV+)
Structured in ten episodes, based on the 1981 novel A room full of people by Daniel Keyes (published in Italy by Nord), this series tells a true story written by Akiva Goldsman – Academy Award-winning screenplay by A Beautiful Mind – and see starring Amanda Seyfried, Emmy Rossum and Tom Holland. The latter plays Billy Milligan, a boy who is arrested in Manhattan in 1979 following a terrible shooting.
The story is told through a series of interrogations conducted by psychiatry researcher Rya Goodwin (Amanda Seyfried) who traces Danny’s story revealing traumatic elements of his mysterious past. With twists that will lead him to a revelation that will change his life.
2. The Snow Maiden (Netflix)
Based on the worldwide hit The Snow Maiden – published by Salani – by the Spanish writer Javier Castilloa beloved and very popular author on social media, tells the story of Miren (Milena Smit), a young journalist who takes an interest in the disappearance of a little girl. An event that pushes her to investigate with determination and commitment out of the ordinary, shocked by the news case. In fact, you have to race against time and the unknown to try to save and bring the little girl back homeeven when hopes are reduced to a minimum.
Milena Smit in a scene from “The Snow Maiden”. (Courtesy Netflix)
3. American Born Chinese (Disney+)
Taken from comic of the same name by Gene Luen Yang published by Tunuè, the series has for protagonist Jin Wang (Ben Wang), a young Asian man which aspires to be considered simply a 100% American boy. Because he fell in love with a 100% American girl: the beautiful Amelia (Sydney Taylor). Standing between them is Danny, a tall, blond hunk who is good at basketball and popular with girls.
The lives and stories of these three characters thus come together in a modern fairy tale that perfectly intertwines the fascinating Chinese mythology and today’s Western world. And it manages to deal with fundamental and delicate issues such as racism, bullying, discrimination and cultural identity. Michelle Yeoh is also in the very young cast as an ancient Chinese deity.
Michelle Yeoh in a scene from “American Born Chinese”. (Courtesy Netflix)
4. The little things in life (Disney+)
With Reese Witherspoon and Laura Dern as executive producers, this series is taken from autobiographical novel by Cheryl Strayed and has as its protagonist the young writer Clare, alter ego of the author, while facing the marriage and motherhood. But, in the meantime, her promising career as a writer slips like sand through her fingers and suffers a setback. Thus, an old writer friend proposes to create an advice column titled “Dear Sugar” and for Clare it will be the beginning of a new, exciting chapter.
Kathryn Hahn in a scene from “The Little Things in Life”. (Courtesy Disney+)
5. Silo (Apple TV+)
Literary saga written by Hugh Howey – and composed of the trilogy of books Wool, Shift And Dust all published by Rizzoli – tells of a community living in a post-apocalyptic underground city. The few thousand surviving humans are confined to a huge underground silo, which reaches over 1.5 km deep, and which protects the inhabitants from the toxicity of the external environment. When a silo sheriff breaks a key rule, resulting in the deaths of several survivors, engineer Juliette Nichols (Rebecca Ferguson) begins her own investigation.. And very soon she will discover shocking secrets and some truths about his past. Tim Robbins and rapper Common also star.
Rebecca Ferguson in a scene from “Silo”. (Courtesy Apple TV+)
6. Daisy Jones & The Six (First Videos)
From the novel by Taylor Jenkins, published in 2020 by Sperling & Kupfer, this story tells of Daisy Jones & The Six, fictional rock band which in the seventies depopulated in the United States. Their concerts fill stadiums around the world and their songs inflame the nights of an entire generation in July 1979, after a memorable concert, the group broke up without giving any explanations.
Until former musicians, managers, journalists and family members, forty years later, they are finally ready to tell the truth. But everyone has their own version of events. A parable about a memorable season of music that was partially inspired by the history of Fleetwood Mac. In the cast, Riley Kough, Camila Morrone and Suki Waterhouse.
The cast of “Daisy Jones & The Six”. (Courtesy Prime Video)
7. Lockwood & Co. (Netflix)
An exciting urban fantasy that transports us to a world where ghosts exist, appear when the sun sets and have the power to kill even just through physical contact. This is the tone of the series drawn from novels by Jonathan Stroud published by Salani.
We are in London, in an unspecified futuristic reality, in which following the Problem – a devastating event that has completely changed the fate of the population – the kids seem to be destined to fight against Evil. Trained to fight as swordsmen and armed with magnesium bombs, teenagers do their best to ensure the survival of mankind. Three excellent protagonists: Ruby Stokes (Lucy Carlyle), Cameron Chapman (Anthony Lockwood) and Ali Hadji-Heshmati (George Karim).
Ruby Stokes and Cameron Chapman in “Lockwood & Co.”. (Courtesy Netflix)
8. Infiltrate the White House (Sky, NOW)
Based on 2007 investigative book by Egil and Matthew Krogh, the miniseries tells the story of two political saboteurs of Nixon. Respectively E. Howard Hunt (Woody Harrelson) and G. Gordon Liddy (Justin Theroux), who managed to overthrow the presidency of the United States in a completely accidental way in 1971. When the White House hired them to investigate the Pentagon Papers leak, before the Watergate case was blown up. The series deals with disenchantment and a touch of irony with a page of history that shocked the political world, reporting the facts with a note of levity and sarcasm. Also in the cast Lena Headey.
The cast of “Infiltrate the White House”. (Courtesy Sky)
9. The last thing he said to me (Apple TV+)
based onnovel of the same name of success published by Piemme and written by Laura Dave – also responsible for the adaptation with her husband Josh Singer –, this thriller series has for hero the star of Alias Jennifer Garner as Hannah Michaels. A woman who must reconnect with 16-year-old stepdaughter Bailey, with whom she has had a difficult relationship so far, while trying to find her husband Owen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), disappeared under mysterious circumstances. And that he left her a mysterious note that says “Protect her”.
Jennifer Garner in a scene from “The last thing she said to me”. (Courtesy Apple TV+)
10. A spy among us (Sky, NOW)
Damian Lewis and Guy Pierce in a scene from “A spy among us”. (Courtesy Sky)
Set in Great Britain during the Cold War periodthis series is from journalist’s bestseller New York Times Ben Macintyre. Fulcrum of events the complex relationship between Nicholas Elliottan intelligence officer for MI6, and his dear friend and colleague Kim Philby (Guy Pearce) which, in 1963, decides to defect to Russia after secretly working as a double agent for the KGB.
The friendship between the two protagonists is the perspective through which it is told an incident that actually happened. And that still influences relations between Russia and America today.
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