Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights is on streaming platforms, sparking a much bigger question: why do some books survive adaptation beautifully while others lose everything essential about them? In this episode, European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston look past the immediate film reviews to debate the broader reality of classic book adaptations. From public reception of the Brontë sisters to the screenplays that actually get it right, we ask if cinema is destroying the soul of contemporary fiction.

📚 BOOKS MENTIONED:

• The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
• The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
• Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell
• Normal People by Sally Rooney
• Life of Pi by Yann Martel
• Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
• The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón
• One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
• The Favorites by Layne Fargo
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry
• Butter by Asako Yuzuki

💌 Our Substack & Show Notes: https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/

📚 Read Ksenija's Novels: https://transatlanticbookmarks.substack.com/p/publications

Ksenija on Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6449766.Ksenija_Popovi_

🎙️ ABOUT TRANSATLANTIC BOOKMARKS A weekly literary podcast hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston. From opposite sides of the Atlantic, we bring you thoughtful, relaxed, and witty conversations about contemporary fiction, classic literature, award shortlists, and the human questions hiding inside the books we read.

New episodes are released every week.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro

00:31 Catching Up on Democracy and Independence

02:31 The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

04:03 Ksenija’s Books

04:39 Wuthering Heights, the 2025 Adaptation

10:55 Do Adaptations Encourage Reading?

13:45 The Racial Component of Wuthering Heights and the 2011 Adaptation

16:08 Why Cathy Married Linton

18:02 The Reasons for Heathcliff’s Cruelty

19:08 Why Charlotte Brontë Renounced Wuthering Heights

22:53 Hollywood’s Relationship with Literature

25:36 The Best Author Is a Dead Author

27:23 The Drama Between Anton Chekhov and Konstantin Stanislavski

28:29 An Author’s Perspective on Adaptations

32:11 Why Jacob Elordi’s Heathcliff Disappointed Ksenija

33:18 How Sue Discovered The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera

34:16 Hamnet by Maggie O’Farrell

35:47 Normal People by Sally Rooney and the Masterful Acting of Paul Mescal

38:06 Do Authors Write with a Movie in Mind?

41:59 Life of Pi by Yann Martel

43:22 Books That Shouldn’t Be Adapted

43:38 Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

44:25 Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

45:27 One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez

45:52 The Good and Bad of Audiobooks

47:46 Female Authors and Adaptations

50:20 Retellings of Classics: The Favorites by Layne Fargo

51:59 Clueless and Ten Things I Hate About You: The Playful Remakes of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare

53:37 Ksenija’s Favorite Wuthering Heights Adaptation

55:31 Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

57:37 Butter by Asako Yuzuki