Book to Screen

With the AACTA awards ceremony this month, it's a good time to check out some of the great Australian novels that have been adapted for the screen!

Updated January 16, 2024
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Big little lies
Moriarty, Liane
Paper Book
From the author of Here One Moment and The Husband's Secret comes the #1 New York Times bestselling novel about the dangerous little lies we tell ourselves just to survive. THE INSPIRATION FOR THE AWARD-WINNING HBO® SERIES STARRING REESE...
The book thief
Zusak, Markus.
Paper Book
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * ONE OF TIME MAGAZINE'S 100 BEST YA BOOKS OF ALL TIME * A NEW YORK TIMES READER TOP 100 PICK FOR BEST BOOKS OF THE 21ST CENTURY * A KIRKUS REVIEWS BEST YOUNG ADULT BOOK OF THE CENTURY The extraordinary, beloved novel about the...
Cocaine blues
Greenwood, Kerry.
Paper Book
From the author of the bestselling Phryne Fisher Series comes Cocaine Blues, the first historical mystery featuring the sensual, posh, and intrepid murder detective Phryne Fisher... "Phryne can not get enough of adventure and the reader can not get enough of Phryne."--Deadly Pleasures ...
The dressmaker
Ham, Rosalie
Paper Book
After twenty years spent mastering the art of dressmaking in Paris, Tilly Dunnage returns to the small Australian town she was banished from as a child to check on her ailing mother. Her exquisite dresses earn Tilly grudging acceptance ... but her mind is set on a darker design.
The dry
Harper, Jane
Paper Book
"I love Jane Harper's Australia-based mysteries." --Stephen King NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE FROM IFC FILMS STARRING ERIC BANA INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER "A breathless page-turner, driven by the many revelations Ms. Harper dreams up...You'll...
Force of nature
Harper, Jane
Paper Book
Goodreads Choice Award Finalist (Mystery & Thriller, 2018) BookBrowse Best Books of 2018 Winner of the Prix Polar Award for Best International NovelBookRiot's 25 Best Suspense Books from 2018 Davitt Awards shortlist for Adult Crime Novel 2018 ...
Jasper Jones : a novel
Silvey, Craig
Paper Book
A 2012 Michael L. Printz Honor Book Charlie Bucktin, a bookish thirteen year old, is startled one summer night by an urgent knock on his bedroom window. His visitor is Jasper Jones, an outcast in their small mining town, and he has come to ask for Charlie's help. Terribly...
The light between oceans
Stedman, M. L.
Paper Book
The spectacular New York Times bestseller and major motion picture about a lighthouse keeper and his wife is "a beautifully delineated tale of love and loss, right and wrong, and what we will do for the happiness of those most dear" (The Boston Globe). ...
Nine perfect strangers
Moriarty, Liane
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, now a Hulu original series "If three characters were good in Big Little Lies, nine are even better in Nine Perfect Strangers." --Lisa Scottoline, The New York Times Book Review From the #1...
Schindler's list
Keneally, Thomas.
Paper Book
A stunning novel based on the true story of how German war profiteer and factory direktor Oskar Schindler came to save more Jews from the gas chambers than any other single person during World War II. In this milestone of Holocaust literature, Thomas Keneally uses the actual testimony of the...
Scrublands
Hammer, Chris
Paper Book
In this searing, "indisputable page-turner" (Associated Press), a town's dark secrets come to light in the aftermath of a young priest's unthinkable last act--in the vein of The Dry and Where the Crawdads Sing. In Riversend, an isolated Australian community...
The thorn birds : a novel
McCullough, Colleen
Paper Book
"Beautiful....Compelling entertainment." --New York Times "A heart-rending epic...truly marvelous." --Chicago Tribune One of the most beloved novels of all time, The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough's sweeping family saga of...
True history of the Kelly gang
Carey, Peter
Paper Book
Out of nineteenth-century Australia rides a hero of his people and a man for all nations, in this masterpiece by the Booker Prize-winning author of Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs. Exhilarating, hilarious, panoramic, and immediately engrossing, it is also—at a distance of many thousand miles...

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