The 2025 adaptation of Wuthering Heights has reignited debate about race, casting, and fidelity to the source material. But the controversy raises a larger question: why do some books survive adaptation beautifully while others lose everything essential about them?

In this episode of Transatlantic Bookmarks, we discuss Wuthering Heights, Hollywood’s relationship with literature, the challenges of adapting classic novels, and whether some books should simply be left alone. From Emily Brontë and Milan Kundera to Sally Rooney and Maggie O’Farrell, we explore what happens when stories move from page to screen, why authors often lose control of their work, and whether film can ever truly capture what makes a novel great.

📚 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

Hosted by European novelist Ksenija Popović and American engineer Sue Graham Johnston, Transatlantic Bookmarks uses books as the starting point for conversations about culture, history, psychology, morality, politics, and the questions hiding between the lines.

New episodes every Saturday.

👉🏻 CHAPTERS

00:00 Intro
04:39 Wuthering Heights, the 2025 Adaptation
13:45 The Racial Component of Wuthering Heights and the 2011 Adaptation
19:08 Why Charlotte Brontë Renounced Wuthering Heights
22:53 Hollywood’s Relationship with Literature
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
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 Playful Remakes of Jane Austen and William Shakespeare
53:37 Ksenija’s Favorite Wuthering Heights Adaptation