“Reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad books,” wrote Annie Barrows and Mary Ann Shaffer in their novel The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. It’s a lesson every fan of historical fiction has had to learn firsthand — after being transported to an entirely different era with just the flip of a page, other kinds of stories may not measure up.
Watching a well-made retelling of your favorite period fiction may just spoil you for good. Travel back in time with this varied list of adaptations — Nordic war dramas, corset courtship romances, Victorian-era adventures, and more.
East of Eden
Florence Pugh leads Zoe Kazan’s fresh adaptation of John Steinbeck’s 1952 masterpiece — a portrait of one family, and also of a rapidly changing society. Pugh plays Cathy Ames, whose life is intertwined with the Trask family — especially brothers Adam (Christopher Abbott) and Charles (Mike Faist) — as they all live out the dark side of the California dream. Also featuring Tracy Letts and Martha Plimpton, the sprawling timeline of the limited series is bookended by the American Civil War and World War I.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials
The morning after a party at a lavish country house, Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent (Mia McKenna-Bruce) is shocked to discover Gerry Wade (Corey Mylchreest) still in bed, even as seven alarm clocks go off inside his room. But Gerry isn’t sleeping — he’s dead, and Bundle is determined to solve the mystery of who is responsible for his untimely end. Helena Bonham Carter and Martin Freeman also star in the three-part adaptation of the Queen of Crime’s 1929 novel.
All Quiet on the Western Front
In 1917, the third year of World War I, 17-year-old Paul Bäumer (Felix Kammerer) enthusiastically joins the German army along with his friends — and against his parents’ wishes. But as soon as Paul is deployed to the front lines in northern France, his romantic notions of fighting for Germany are violently dispelled by the brutal reality of trench warfare. Edward Berger (Ballad of a Small Player) directs the four-time Oscar-winning adaptation of Erich Maria Remarque’s classic novel of the same name.
All the Light We Cannot See
In this sweeping epica blind girl named Marie-Laure (Aria Mia Loberti) and her father, Daniel (Mark Ruffalo), flee German-occupied Paris with a legendary diamond to keep it from the Nazis. They find refuge with Uncle Etienne (Hugh Laurie), who transmits clandestine radio broadcasts for the Resistance. Marie-Laure and Daniel also cross paths with Werner (Louis Hofmann), a teenager enlisted by Hitler’s regime to track down illegal broadcasts. Shawn Levy (Stranger Things) directs this four-part adaptation of Anthony Doerr’s 2014 Pulitzer Prize–winning novel.
Anne with an E
Amybeth McNulty stars in this acclaimed coming-of-age tale as Anne Shirley, a plucky and irrepressible orphan who finds an unlikely home with a spinster named Marilla Cuthbert (Geraldine James) and her soft-spoken bachelor brother Matthew Cuthbert (R.H. Thomson). Set in the late 19th century and inspired by Lucy Maud Montgomery’s children’s novel Anne of Green Gablesthe three-season drama expands on the classic book and explores themes of identity, prejudice, feminism, bullying, and gender parity.
Bridgerton
Fall in love with this Regency-era serieswhich introduces the titular eight-sibling family of Julia Quinn’s romance novels. Its inaugural season kicks off the matchmaking with the eldest Bridgerton daughter, Duchess Daphne Basset (Phoebe Dynevor), as she navigates the dos and don’ts of the social season — courtship protocol, dating etiquette, and the scandal sheets penned by Lady Whistledown. Each subsequent season follows another Bridgerton sibling, including Anthony (Jonathan Bailey), Colin (Luke Newton), and Benedict (Luke Thompson).
Death by Lightning
This limited series stars Michael Shannon as James Garfield, the underdog congressman who became the 20th US president in 1881. Based on Candice Millard’s 2011 nonfiction book Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President, the four episodes chronicle Garfield’s improbable rise and abrupt fall at the hands of Charles Guiteau (Matthew Macfadyen), Garfield’s fanatical admirer and eventual assassin. Betty Gilpin, Nick Offerman, Bradley Whitford, and Shea Whigham also portray real-life figures.
Enola Holmes
Move over, Sherlock Holmes — it’s time to focus on the famous detective’s younger sister, Enola Holmes. Based on Nancy Springer’s young adult mystery series, the action-adventure movie stars Millie Bobby Brown as the young gumshoe, alongside Henry Cavill as Sherlock. Join Enola as she looks into the mysterious disappearance of her mother (Helena Bonham Carter). Make it a marathon with Enola Holmes 2in which the two siblings work together to solve the case of a missing girl. Then stream Enola Holmes 3as intrigue chases the detective to sun-soaked Malta.
The Irishman
In this epic gangster film, Robert De Niro portrays Frank Sheeran, a veteran and truck driver whose life changes when he starts to work as a hit man for mobster Russell Bufalino (Joe Pesci). The star-studded cast includes Al Pacino, Ray Romano, Bobby Cannavale, Anna Paquin, Jesse Plemons, and Harvey Keitel. Martin Scorsese directs this 10-time Oscar-nominated adaptation of Charles Brandt’s 2004 book, I Heard You Paint Houses — a decade-spanning portrait of organized crime in postwar America.
The Last Kingdom
Based on The Saxon Stories series by Bernard Cornwell, this gritty war drama recounts the creation of England under the rule of King Alfred the Great (David Dawson). Set in the 9th and 10th centuries, the story is told from the perspective of Uhtred of Bebbanburg (Alexander Dreymon), who was born a Saxon nobleman but captured during childhood and raised by Vikings. This left him torn between his native roots and his Danish upbringing. Follow the series’ five seasons with the feature-length sequel The Last Kingdom: Seven Kings Must Die.
Little House on the Prairie
Meet the Ingalls family — Ma (Crosby Fitzgerald), Pa (Luke Bracey), Mary (Skywalker Hughes), and Laura (Alice Halsey) — as they face the often harsh conditions of 1800s prairie life just outside the small but quickly developing town of Independence, Kansas. Based on Laura Ingalls Wilder’s beloved book series inspired by her own childhood on the frontier, the eight-episode adaptation is part family drama, part epic survival tale, and part origin story of the American West.
MINDHUNTER
This crime drama spotlights the inception of the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit during the early days of criminal profiling in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Jonathan Groff and Holt McCallany star as FBI agents who explore the minds and motives of serial killers by interviewing them, and Anna Torv plays the psychology professor who joins their team. Based on John E. Douglas and Mark Olshaker’s 1995 book Mindhunter: Inside the FBI’s Elite Serial Crime Unitthe series draws chilling parallels between the interviewers and their subjects.
Persuasion
Jane Austen’s 1817 novel gifted us with unforgettable lines like, “You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.” In this adaptation of the historical romance, Dakota Johnson plays Anne Elliot who, years ago, fell for a handsome but penniless naval officer, Frederick Wentworth (Cosmo Jarvis). But she succumbed to societal pressures and broke off their engagement. When they meet again, Anne must choose between the life she always wanted with Wentworth and the life she could have with her rich and charming suitor, Mr. William Elliot (Henry Golding).
The Queen’s Gambit
Hitting play is the winning move for this series. Anya Taylor-Joy plays Beth Harmon, a uniquely gifted orphan in 1950s Kentucky who rises to the top of the international chess world while also grappling with addiction. Moses Ingram, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Marielle Heller, and Bill Camp co-star in the seven-episode thrillerbased on the 1983 novel by Walter Tevis. It won 11 Emmys, including awards for outstanding limited or anthology series and outstanding period costumes — Taylor-Joy’s Beth has got as much style as she has strategy.
Number of recommendations may vary by region.
Source: www.netflix.com
