Portobello Book Blog

Whenever a book becomes a best seller, you start to hear murmurings about adaptations whether for tv or the big screen. Some people love this and can’t wait to see their favourite stories and characters brought to life on screen. Other people hate it and want to keep their own ideas of how they envisage the characters. Sometimes an adaptation works really well, sometimes it’s not so well received. In this occasional series, I’m going to look at some books which I have read and see what I made of the adaptation. One thing I’m sure we can all agree on: the book is always better!

I’m going to start today with a fairly recent adaptation. The Flatshare by Beth O’Leary was a hugely enjoyable book. It looked at the unusual flat sharing arrangement between Tiffy and Leon who shared a flat (and a bed) but never actually met. Leon was a nurse who worked permanent night shift so had the flat during the day, Tiffy had a more regular 9-5 job so had the flat in the evening and at the weekends when Leon stayed elsewhere. I absolutely loved this book, gave it five stars – you can read my review here: The Flatshare

So what did I think of the adaptation?

I LOVED it! There were some differences from the book of course, such as how Tiffy looked, the exact job she did and Leon not being Irish. But in general, I thought this was a really good adaptation. I felt it captured the humour of the book and the relationship between Tiffy and Leon. It also included most of the other deeper issues covered in the book such as controlling relationships, wrongful conviction and having to hide who you are. It’s funny, romantic and touching. I really liked Jessica Brown Finlay as Tiffy and Anthony Welsh as Leon and thought they were true to the spirit of the characters.

Where can you watch it?

The Flatshare is available to watch as a six part series on Paramount+. Paramount+ is a subscription channel which you can watch online. If you’re not already subscribed, you can get a seven day free trial if you sign up.

Have you watched the adapted version? Have you read the book? Let me know what you think especially if you have both read the book and watched an adaptation. Did you think it was a good re-imagining of the book or did it spoil what you thought of the book?