What happens when a Netflix hit takes viewers back to the book it came from?
Netflix is teaming up with the British Library to put the books behind some of its biggest films and series into public libraries across the UK, hoping to encourage more people to pick up a book after watching its screen adaptation.
As part of the new national partnership, collections of books adapted into Netflix films and series will be donated to 100 public libraries across the country.
The initiative comes as the UK marks the National Year of Reading 2026, an effort to address declining levels of reading for pleasure.
From screen to shelf
The donated collections will include literary works such as “Frankenstein,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “Heartstopper,” “One Day,” “The Thursday Murder Club” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”
The partnership will also include funding from Netflix to support the British Library’s literary conservation and archives.
Alongside the book donations, Netflix and the British Library will host events about how books are transformed for the screen, with the program also streamed to libraries across the country.
The events have already featured Q&As with stars of “Frankenstein,” “The Thursday Murder Club” and “The Seven Dials Mystery.”
On September 21, Florence Pugh, Zoe Kazan, Christopher Abbott and Mike Faist took part in a discussion about “East of Eden,” Netflix’s upcoming limited series based on John Steinbeck’s 1952 novel.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Dua Lipa gives banned, challenged books a home at The Manifesto Library in Portugal
Can a TV hit bring readers back?
The partnership arrives as reading for pleasure among young people in the UK faces a significant decline.
The UK National Literacy Trust’s 2025 Annual Literacy Survey found that children’s enjoyment of reading had fallen to its lowest recorded level.
The survey also found that books connected to favorite films and television series can encourage reluctant readers, Variety reports.
The connection works for adults, too.
Nielsen BookData found that 12% of adult fiction bought by occasional readers was discovered through, or chosen because of, a film or television adaptation.
Netflix has also pointed to the effect its adaptations can have on book sales.
After the release of the “One Day” series in 2024, sales of David Nicholls’ novel reportedly rose by 4,452%, from 3,216 copies in the 26 weeks before the series premiered to 143,193 copies in the following 26 weeks.
That makes the partnership less about choosing between books and screens and more about how one can lead audiences to the other.
Keeping the story going
“Every great adaptation starts with a great story,” Anne Mensah, Netflix’s vice president of content, UK, said, adding that the experience does not have to end when the credits roll.
For the British Library, the partnership also supports its work preserving literary collections while bringing adapted works to new audiences through public libraries.
The idea is simple: watch the story, then find where it began.
And this time, Netflix is helping put that next chapter on the library shelf.
READ NEXT: Philippine literature has a new National Artist in Gregorio Brillantes
Wendellyn Mateo 
Geoffrey H. Latayan