Happy World Book Day!

This World Book Day, I thought I'd pick out a dozen books you should add to your list to read ahead of the upcoming television adaptation. And don't worry, most of them are months, if not a year or more ahead, so there's plenty of time to get up to speed.

Whether it's debut novels from the likes of Bella Mackie, Charlotte Langley, Chris Chibnall, Holly Gramazio, Michael Magee and Tom Bradby, bestselling novels from Caroline O’Donoghue, Graham Norton, Janice Hadlow, and Nick Harkaway (as Aidan Truhen), Margaret Atwood's sequel to The Handmaid's Tale, or a wonderful memoir from Jennette McCurdy, there really is something for all tastes on this list.

Here are 12 books to read ahead of the TV adaptation...

The Blame

Charlotte Langley

Back in August 2025, ITV1 announced that Megan Gallagher would be adapting Charlotte Langley's debut novel, The Blame, into a gripping new six-part crime thriller, starring Michelle Keegan, Douglas Booth, Ian Hart, Nathan Mensah, Nigel Boyle, Joe Armstrong, Matilda Freeman, Gavin Spokes, Josh Boly and Ceallach Spellman.

The Blame begins when the body of teenage figure skater Sophie Madsen is discovered, sending shockwaves through the town of Wakestead.

As DI Crane, played by Michelle Keegan and DI Radley, played by Douglas Booth, dig deeper, what starts as a tragic death spirals into a tangled web of lies, institutional cover-ups, and moral compromise.

As the clock ticks and trust fractures, Crane must navigate both a murder investigation and the treacherous politics inside her own team. It promises complex characters, unexpected twists, and a mystery at its core. It dives into secrets, suspicion and systemic corruption, all under the surface of this seemingly quiet town.

The Blame will air on ITV1

Close to Home

Michael Magee

Last month, Channel 4 announced that Michael Magee would be adapting his debut novel, Close to Home, into a four-part drama starring Anthony Boyle, Jessica Reynolds, Seamus O’Hara and Oisín Thompson.

Close to Home revels in the reckless decadence of youth and celebrates a generation growing up in the wake of the troubles. A striking tale of love, trauma and finding your place in the scarred city you call home.

It tells the story of Sean, a young man who finds himself back in Belfast. Back from university and back into old habits. Back on the mad all-nighters, the borrowed tenners and missing rent, the casual jobs that always fall through.

Back with his brother, his ma and all the things they never talk about. Back where the promised prosperity of peacetime has yet to arrive, and every street has a story to tell. One night, Sean assaults a stranger at a party, and everything is tipped into chaos.

Close to Home will air on Channel 4

Death at the White Hart

Chris Chibnall

Back in March 2025, ahead of the release of his debut novel, ITV1 announced that Broadchurch creator Chris Chibnall would be adapting Death at the White Hart into a new crime drama, with casting still to be announced.

Death At The White Hart is set in the Dorset village of Fleetcombe, where the village pub’s landlord is found murdered. Detective Nicola Bridge must unpick a web of lies and rivalries to unmask the killer.

Death at the White Hart will air on ITV1

Forever Home

Graham Norton

Back in January, 5 announced that Clara Salaman would be adapting Graham Norton's novel, Forever Home, into a new six-part drama, starring Amy Nuttall, Douglas Henshall, Denise Welch, Kevin Whately, Samantha Bond, Lewis Cope, Jenny Walser, Shane Zaza and James Baxter.

Forever Home follows the story of a second wife dealing with the memories of the woman who went before her. When Carol discovers a long-dead body hidden in the basement of her home, the horrific realisation is undeniable. She's living with a killer.

The story that her husband's first wife ran away, never to be seen again, now looks like a lie, and the fact that he’s insisted on never selling the house suddenly makes sense. But one dark family secret is soon to be replaced by another…

Forever Home will air on 5

How to Kill Your Family

Bella Mackie

Back in August 2024, Netflix announced that Extraordinary creator Emma Moran would be adapting Bella Mackie's debut novel, How to Kill Your Family, into an eight-part thriller starring Anya Taylor-Joy.

How to Kill Your Family follows Grace, who has a complicated family. Her dad is merciless billionaire Simon Artemis, and she is the product of an affair Simon claims not to remember, which left Grace and her mom to fend for themselves.

When her mother dies, and Grace is rejected by the people who should love her, she transforms her anger into something useful, killing off her estranged extended family via morbidly creative means. But will this deadly scheme take even more from Grace than she’s already lost?

Soon, Grace is clawing her way toward revenge and a hefty inheritance. But her mission pulls her away from what she really needs.

How to Kill Your Family will air on Netflix

The Husbands

Holly Gramazio

Back in April 2025, Apple TV announced that Miriam Battye would be adapting Holly Gramazio's debut novel, The Husbands, into an eight-part comedic drama starring Juno Temple.

When Lauren returns home to her flat in London late one night, she is greeted at the door by her husband, Michael. There’s only one problem. She’s never seen this man before in her life.

As Lauren tries to puzzle out how she could be married to someone she can’t remember meeting, Michael goes to the attic to change a lightbulb and abruptly disappears. In his place, a new husband emerges.

Realising that her attic is creating an infinite supply of husbands, Lauren confronts the question: If swapping lives is as easy as changing a lightbulb, how do you know you’ve taken the right path? When do you stop trying to do better and start actually living?

The Husbands will air on Apple TV

I'm Glad My Mom Died

Jennette McCurdy

Back in July 2025, Apple TV announced that Jennette McCurdy, along with Ari Katcher, would be adapting her memoir, I'm Glad My Mom Died, into a 10-part dramedy starring Jennifer Aniston.

I’m Glad My Mom Died is a heartbreaking and hilarious recounting of McCurdy’s struggles as a former child actor while dealing with her overbearing, domineering mother.

The series will centre on the codependent relationship between an 18-year-old actress in a hit kids’ show and her narcissistic mother, who relishes in her identity as “a starlet’s mother".

I'm Glad My Mom Died will air on Apple TV

The Other Bennet Sister

Janice Hadlow

Back in October 2024, BBC One announced that Sarah Quintrell would be adapting Janice Hadlow's novel, The Other Bennet Sister, into a 10-part drama starring Ella Bruccoleri, Ruth Jones, Richard E. Grant, Indira Varma, Richard Coyle, Laurie Davidson and Dónal Finn.

The Other Bennet Sister promises to be a fresh spin around the ballroom for one of Jane Austen’s most unassuming characters: Mary Bennet. The seemingly unremarkable and overlooked middle sister in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The series takes as its premise that, when it comes to the Bennet sisters, while we dream of being Lizzy, in reality, most of us are more like Mary...

Unlike her sisters, Mary isn’t your typical period drama heroine. She is awkward, anxious, preachy, full of facts, a terrible singer… overlooked by her mother and seemingly destined to an empty dance card for the rest of her life… until Mary takes matters into her own hands.

The Other Bennet Sister gives Mary Bennet the epic love story nobody predicted for her, taking her from her family home in Meryton to the soirees of Regency London and the peaks and vales of the Lake District, all in search of independence, romance and, most elusive of all, self-love and acceptance.

The Other Bennet Sister starts Sunday 15th March at 8pm on BBC One

The Price You Pay

Nick Harkaway as Aidan Truhen

Back in February 2025, Prime Video announced that Tom Butterworth would be adapting Nick Harkaway's The Price You Pay, written as Aidan Truhen, into an eight-part revenge thriller starring Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Kill Jackie follows Jackie Price, who has been living a luxurious existence for the last twenty years – travelling the world, selling fine art using sophisticated tax loopholes, and, above all, trying to stay anonymous after escaping a dangerous past as an international cocaine dealer.

But just as life starts to feel a little boring, it takes a sudden, lethal turn when she discovers The Seven Demons, a squad of the world’s most terrifying hitmen, have been hired to kill her. Assuming someone from her past is behind it, Jackie unleashes her old instincts and embarks on a wild, dangerous game plan: to take down The Demons one by one before they kill her.

However, she soon realises her own demons are much more terrifying than the ruthless killers on her trail… and her buried secrets ultimately lead her much closer to home, with surprising consequences.

Kill Jackie will air on Prime Video

The Rachel Incident

Caroline O'Donoghue

Back in February 2025, Channel 4 announced that Caroline O’Donoghue would be adapting her novel, The Rachel Incident, into an eight-part drama starring Máiréad Tyers, Ellis Howard, Cúán Hosty-Blaney, Ciarán Dowd, Helen Behan, Ardal O’Hanlon, Jeanne Ní Áinle, Molly McFadden and Maria Doyle Kennedy.

The Rachel Incident is set in Cork in 2010. Rachel is a student working at a bookstore when she meets James, and it is love at first sight. Effervescent and insistently heterosexual, James, played by Ellis Howard, soon invites Rachel to be his roommate, and the two begin a friendship that changes the course of both their lives forever.

Together, they run riot through the streets of Cork City, trying to cultivate a bohemian existence while the reality of the recent financial crash looms over them.

When Rachel admits to a huge crush on her married professor, Dr. Fred Byrne, played by Daniel Ings, James helps her devise a launch for his new book at the store, with the hope that she might seduce him afterwards… But Fred, as it turns out, has other desires.

So begins a series of secrets and compromises that intertwine the fates of James, Rachel, Fred, and Fred's wife Deenie, played by Saraha Greene, an incredibly cool and well-connected literary editor.

The Rachel Incident is aching with unrequited love, shot through with delicious, sparkling humour about friends, lovers, Ireland in chaos, and a young woman desperately trying to manage all three.

The Rachel Incident will air on Channel 4

Secret Service

Tom Bradby

Back in May 2024, ITV1 announced that Tom Bradby, together with Jemma Kennedy, would be adapting his novel, Secret Service, into an high octane espionage thriller starring Gemma Arterton, Rafe Spall, Alex Kingston, Mark Stanley, Roger Allam, Amaka Okafor, Aoife Hinds, Avi Nash, Alma Prelec and Khalid Abdalla.

Secret Service explores the world of espionage against the backdrop of escalating tensions between the UK and Russia.

Suspenseful, timely, and cinematic, Secret Service follows senior MI6 officer Kate Henderson as a covert investigation uncovers evidence that a high-ranking UK politician may be working as a Russian asset.

With trust shattered and her career on the line, Kate must navigate the shifting sands of political loyalty, international threat, and personal sacrifice

Secret Service will air on ITV1

The Testaments

Margaret Atwood

Back in April 2025, Disney+ announced that The Handmaid's Tale creator Bruce Miller would be adapting Margaret Atwood's The Testaments into a 10-episode drama starring Ann Dowd, Chase Infiniti, Lucy Halliday, Mabel Li, Amy Seimetz, Brad Alexander, Rowan Blanchard, Mattea Conforti, Zarrin Darnell-Martin, Eva Foote, Isolde Ardies, Shechinah Mpumlwana, Birva Pandya, and Kira Guloien.

The Testaments takes place in the dystopian theocracy of Gilead. Years after the events of The Handmaid’s Tale, The Testaments is a coming-of-age story that finds a new generation of young women in Gilead grappling with the bleak future that awaits them.

For these young women, growing up in Gilead is all they have ever known, having no tangible memories of the outside world before their indoctrination into this life.

Facing the prospect of being married off and living a life of servitude, they will be forced to search for allies, both new and old, to help in their fight for freedom and the life they deserve.

The Testaments launches Wednesday 8th April on Disney+