‘Behind Her Eyes’: The best book adaptations on Netflix right now
Book adaptations have been hot for a while now, and with top streaming services like Netflix & Disney+ supporting these projects, the results are pretty amazing. Particularly, tons of Netflix Originals are based on books, so we can’t argue that bestsellers don’t inspire films & television anymore.
Not only are we getting fresh new spins on original content from these adaptations, print industry & publishers are rejoicing from the book revivals.
Recently, Netflix announced “their recent adaptations of literary works, including Lupin & Firefly Lane, have achieved a rise in print sales with half of the top [ten] titles featured on The New York Times’ bestsellers list for print & e-book fiction [. . .],” according to The Hollywood Reporter.
If you’re wondering which of your recent Netflix library picks are literary adaptations, here’s a list for you book lovers.
Behind Her Eyes
The latest novel-to-webseries adaptation happens to be Behind Her Eyes, premiered on Netflix two weekends ago. The psychological thriller based on the 2017 novel Behind Her Eyes by Sarah Pinborough can be described a little as Gone Girl-esque with crazy twists, erotic suspenses, and a not-so-cliché love triangle.
According to IMDb, Netflix’s Behind Her Eyes follows protagonist Louise who’s a single mom with a son and a part-time job in a psychiatrist’s office. She begins an affair with her boss and strikes up an unlikely friendship with his wife.
The ending of Behind Her Eyes seemed to be even crazier as viewers found themselves tweeting & trending #WTFthatending after successfully completing the six-part miniseries.
Bridgerton
Released last December, Bridgerton quickly became one of the biggest hit dramas on Netflix and amassed 82 million views upon its release. The historical romance was based on Julia Quinn’s The Duke And I which found its way to the top of bestsellers’ list twenty-one years after its initial publication, joining in on Bridgerton’s success.
Bridgerton made us all want to fall in love in the Regency-era backdrop of England as eight, close-knit siblings from the powerful Bridgerton family find their footing with wealth, lust, and betrayal in their lives.
The Queen’s Gambit
Another 2020 jackpot for Netflix – The Queen’s Gambit was phenomenal in its storytelling as it took us on a journey of Beth Harmon, an orphaned chess prodigy, who “struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.”
The Anya Taylor-Joy starrer was based on Walter Tevis’s 1983 novel of the same name, The Queen’s Gambit. The novel appeared on The New York Times’ bestsellers list for the first time since its original publication (almost forty years back) and made the top ten thanks to the Netflix-produced miniseries.
The Haunting of Hill House & Bly Manor
Both the seasons of Netflix’s The Haunting have been based on horror-mystery novels. The books the horror miniseries are based on are standalone adaptations just like the show’s seasons.
2018’s The Haunting of Hill House uses Shirley Jackson’s 1959 famous gothic novel as a road map to explore a fable of the haunted house and the family living there. The follow-up released last year, The Haunting of Bly Manor adapts an even more ancient-but-just-as-gripping novella called The Turn of The Screw by Henry James which was originally published in 1898.
The Netflix’s standalone sequel follows “a young governess who arrives at Bly Manor and begins to see apparitions haunting the estate”.
Firefly Lane
Adding another coming-of-age drama doesn’t seem unnecessary with Firefly Lane’s debut on Netflix. Starring Katherine Heigl, the series premiered on the streamer last month and follows the tale of two best friends who meet on the Firefly lane and their journey together onward.
Netflix’s Firefly Lane is based on the original novel of the same name by Kristin Hannah which hit the number one spot on The New York Times’ bestsellers list three days after the adaptation’s premier. The novel received the accolade thirteen years after its first publication.
