Fall Into a Good Story

The Perfect PBS Drama and Best-Selling 2026 Book Pairing

September is National Literacy Month, the perfect time to pair a current bestseller with a beloved PBS drama series on the PBS app. These matches will have you exploring the rich settings, complex histories and gripping characters in new ways and help you meet your yearly reading goals. 

Grab your favorite drink, cozy up with a blanket and get ready to read and watch your way through great storytelling this fall. 

If you like Call the Midwife, then read The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett. 

Call the Midwife

Call the Midwife follows the nurses, midwives and nuns from Nonnatus House, who visit the expectant mothers of Poplar, providing the poorest women with the best possible care. 

Watch season 15 of Call the Midwife, streaming now on the PBS app. 

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett 

Like Call the Midwife, this novel (set in Mississippi during the Great Depression) depicts resilient women coming together during times of economic hardship to uplift and empower their local communities. This book is by the author of the 2009 novel The Help, which was later adapted into a film starring Emma Stone and Viola Davis. 

If you like The Marlow Murder Club, then read How to Cheat Your Own Death by Kristen Perrin.

The Marlow Murder Club

In season 3, The Marlow Murder Club ladies are back and bringing their unconventional methods to a string of high-profile murders. 

Watch seasons 1-3 of The Marlow Murder Club, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

How to Cheat Your Own Death by Kristen Perrin 

Sharp, unconventional female sleuths navigate clever murder cases and tangled secrets in Perrin’s novel and The Marlow Murder Club. 

If you like All Creatures Great & Small, then read Theo of Golden by Allen Levi

All Creatures Great & Small

The series features James Herriot’s adventures as a veterinarian in 1930’s Yorkshire. Nicholas Ralph makes his television debut as the iconic vet who became renowned for his inspiring humor, compassion and love of life. 

Watch All Creatures Great & Small, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

Theo of Golden by Allen Levi 

This heartwarming novel’s reflections on small-town generosity and the healing power of community are reminiscent of the touching stories of All Creatures Great & Small. 

If you like Marble Hall Murders, then read The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Marble Hall Murders

Lesley Manville and Tim McMullan return in an adaptation of the third and final installment in best-selling novelist Anthony Horowitz’s Susan Ryeland series. This is a follow-up to the critically acclaimed fan-favorites Magpie Murders and Moonflower Murders, which premiered on Masterpiece in 2022 and 2024, respectively.

Watch Marble Hall Murders, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

The Correspondent by Virginia Evans

Both this novel and Marble Hall Murders revolve around long-buried secrets, the written word and mysteries from the past. 

If you like Sanditon, then read The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez & Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune 

Sanditon

Sanditon tells the story of Charlotte Heywood, a spirited and somewhat impulsive young woman who travels from her rural English home to an up-and-coming seaside resort town to reinvent herself. 

Watch Sanditon, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

The Night We Met by Abby Jimenez 

Both this novel and Sanditon explore the intense emotional weight of love triangles, where independent heroines must navigate complex relationship duties over their own happiness. 

Our Perfect Storm by Carley Fortune 

Both Carley Fortune's Our Perfect Storm and the adaptation of Jane Austen's Sanditon beautifully capture the transportive energy of a coastal getaway, where characters are swept up by the seaside atmosphere and forced to take life-altering risks on a budding romance. 

If you like Unforgotten, then read London Falling by Patrick Radden Keefe 

Unforgotten

This award-winning cold-case crime drama follows veteran London detectives who uncover the truth behind tangled, complicated murders from the past. The deeper the truth lies, the bigger the emotional toll for the suspects, the families left behind and for the detective inspectors themselves. 

Watch Unforgotten, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

London Falling: A Mysterious Death in a Gilded City and a Family’s Search for Truth by Patrick Radden Keefe 

This nonfiction book retraces the secret life of a 19-year-old Londoner. Keefe and Unforgotten pull back the curtain on London’s dark underbelly, where long-buried secrets and criminal pasts eventually come to light. 

If you like The Durrells in Corfu, then read Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt & Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer

The Durrells in Corfu

Keeley Hawes stars as an intrepid widow decamping from dreary England to a sun-drenched Greek island with her four recalcitrant children, ages 11 to 21. 

Watch The Durrells in Corfu, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt 

A story about an eccentric bond between a human and animal, this novel and The Durrells in Corfu showcase found family and unexpected connections. 

Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer 

This novel and The Durrells in Corfu lean into witty humor set against sunny European hillsides and picturesque escapes. 

If you like Alice & Jack, then read Strangers by Belle Burden 

Alice & Jack

Andrea Riseborough and Domhnall Gleeson star in Alice & Jack, a modern love story. When Alice and Jack first meet, they’re bound by a connection so powerful it seems nothing can break it, but will their path lead them to a place of happiness and togetherness? 

Watch Alice & Jack, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

Strangers: A Memoir of Marriage by Belle Burden 

Author Belle Burden details her separation and divorce during the COVID-19 pandemic. This memoir pairs well with the depiction of a complex, long-term relationship on PBS’s Alice & Jack. 

If you like Trespasses, then read Kin by Tayari Jones & Land by Maggie O’Farrell

Trespasses

Cushla is a young Catholic schoolteacher whose life in 1975 Northern Ireland is shadowed by the Troubles. She meets and falls for Michael—an older, married Protestant barrister. Their affair is intoxicating and dangerous. As the forbidden love between Cushla and Michael deepens, violence looms and tensions rise. Cushla is pulled between duty and desire, family and freedom. 

Watch Trespasses, streaming now on the PBS app with PBS NC Passport. 

Kin by Tayari Jones 

Both this novel and Trespasses follow deeply rooted personal relationships tested and reshaped by social tragedy and community turmoil. 

Land by Maggie O’Farrell 

This novel, by the author of Hamnet, follows a family’s struggle for survival in the aftermath of Ireland’s Great Hunger. It sets the stage and adds historical context for Trespasses.