Whether browsing the bookstores or scrolling on social media, it’s likely that an Emily Henry book will pop up. The romance novelist’s five books — Beach Read, People We Meet on Vacation, Book Lovers, Happy Place and Funny Story — not only offer bright and colorful cover designs that catch the eyes of readers but also tell swoon-worthy love stories with complex characters and relatable moments.
To say the “EmHen” book universe has a devoted following would be an understatement. Each of her five books went on to become best-sellers with the author having sold seven million copies in the United States since 2020, according to The New York Times. Her most recent release, Funny Story, has been on the best-seller list for nine weeks.
Amid her romance superiority, it’s no surprise that the Henry universe is now getting the adaptation treatment. Four of her novels are in development to become films while her novel, Happy Place is going to be a series on Netflix.
Devoted fans are eager to see how her love stories translate onscreen — even going so far as to share dream casting choices, trying to find Easter egg clues that would tease anything of what’s to come and even stoking rumors about a potential Paul Mescal and Ayo Edebiri casting thanks to a photo Henry shared on social media. (Yulin Kuang, the director and screenwriter adapting two of Henry’s novels, told The Hollywood Reporter of the rumors: “I am so excited that people are excited, no bad ideas here.”)
Below, THR takes a look at the Henry catalog set to hit the screen.
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‘Beach Read’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Berkley ADAPTATION Film
PLOT January Andrews is a romance writer who no longer believes in love, and Augustus Everett is a literary writer enduring severe writer’s block. The polar opposites find themselves living in neighboring beach houses and eventually devise a plan to help each other get out of a creative rut. Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen the next Great American Novel. January will take Gus to varied places that scream romance while he takes her to interview surviving members of a cult. They may be on their way to writing their next book, but they may just find love in the process.
When teasing the adaptation, writer-director Yulin Kuang told THR, “I really enjoy writing Gus in Beach Read. I have this theory that an Emily Henry hero is a Yulin Kuang heroine. I spent a lot more time like thinking about this woman’s words, and the thing that I am drawn to in her work, they tend to be like the heroes that are more aloof, withdrawn, cold. So I really enjoyed diving in there.”
CAST TBD
DIRECTOR/WRITER Yulin Kuang is writing and directing the forthcoming film for 20th Century Studios.
RELEASE DATE TBD
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‘People We Meet on Vacation’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Berkley ADAPTATION A feature film adaptation at 3000 Pictures
PLOT For the last decade, longtime best friends Alex and Poppy have taken one week of summer vacation together. That is until they stopped speaking two years ago. When Poppy reaches out and convinces Alex to take one more vacation together, she sees it as her time to fix their broken relationship. However, there’s just one unspoken truth they have yet to confront. In the 2021 novel, Henry chronicles a slow-burn, friends-to-lovers romance with lots of fun travels.
CAST TBD
DIRECTOR/WRITER Brett Haley is set to direct, with Yulin Kuang penning the screenplay.
RELEASE DATE TBD
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‘Book Lovers’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Berkley ADAPTATION Tango — the production-finance outfit behind Aftersun and Weird: The Weird Al Yankovic Story — will develop and produce the romance as a feature film.
PLOT The 2022 novel centers on literary agent, Nora Stephens, and book editor Charlie Lastra who run into each other during a summer holiday in North Carolina. Despite the two already having met and not being fond of each other, their paths continuously cross in Sunshine Falls with the pair left to learn not only about each other and possibly fall in love but find themselves as well.
CAST TBD
DIRECTOR/WRITER Girls and Modern Love writer Sarah Heyward is attached to adapt. A director has not been attached yet.
RELEASE DATE TBD
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‘Happy Place’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Berkley ADAPTATION The 2023 novel will be adapted into a television series at Netflix under Jennifer Lopez’s Nuyorican Productions. Series producers will be Nuyorican’s Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas and Benny Medina.
PLOT Harriet and Wyn seemed like the perfect couple after meeting in college, but five years later, the couple has broken up — they just haven’t told their best friends yet. When they join their friend group’s yearly getaway, Harriet and Wyn choose to pretend to still be together rather than ruin their friends’ last hurrah together. After sharing a bedroom at the Maine cottage they’re all staying at and reliving memories, Harriet and Wyn struggle but stay determined to fake it for one week before returning to their lives. But will lingering feelings bring them back together?
CAST TBD
DIRECTOR/WRITER TBD
RELEASE DATE TBD
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‘Funny Story’
Image Credit: Courtesy of Berkley ADAPTATION Lyrical Media’s Alexander Black and Natalie Sellers and RPC’s Aaron Ryder and Andrew Swett are attached to produce the feature film. Lyrical’s Jon Rosenberg and Henry are set to executive produce. RPC’s Emma Rappold will co-produce.
PLOT The novel, released in April, centers on protagonists Daphne and Miles, whose exes are dating. Daphne, a children’s librarian, is heartbroken when her fiancé Peter leaves her after realizing his true feelings for his childhood best friend Petra. But after she’s left with a now-empty home, Daphne becomes roommates with Petra’s ex, Miles. The two eventually hatch a plan to get back at their exes by pretending to be together, but things take a turn when the pair just might unexpectedly fall in love.
CAST TBD
DIRECTOR/WRITER No director is attached yet, but Henry is writing the script for the adaptation, which is the first of her works that she is adapting by herself.
RELEASE DATE TBD
