Nine Ways the Adapted TV Series Nine Perfect Strangers Differs From the Book

Nine troubled strangers from very different walks of life are carefully selected to attend a luxury retreat at Tranquillum House, run by mysterious health guru, Masha. For ten days, they digitally detox, removing themselves from the every day stresses of the world to allow them to reconnect. Once they arrive, they are encouraged to give themselves to Masha and trust that she knows how to take away their suffering. However, her methods aren’t exactly traditional…

Nine Perfect Strangers by Liane Moriarty

I heard about Nine Perfect Strangers after it was acquired by Channel 4 back in September 2022. After reading up and finding out that it’s based on the book of the same name by Liane Moriarty (Big Little Lies), I decided it would be worth reading before watching the series. I’d watched Big Little Lies with it’s all-star cast and loved it so assumed this would be no different.

This might be a controversial opinion, and granted I don’t say this often, but personally I preferred the TV series to the book. Moriarty is very gifted when it comes to character building but I think the additions to the show, including character motivation, gave it more dimension and allowed for better pacing.

**Warning: The following is a comparison of the book and the TV show so there will be major spoilers**

1. The “noble silence”

When Masha’s guests arrive at the retreat, they are encouraged to take part in a five day quiet period, otherwise known as a noble silence. This was understandably not included in the screenplay as you don't have the benefit of narrator diving into the mindset of the characters. It wouldn’t have been impossible to do, after all, silent pictures is where it all began, but by removing the five days of silence it gave the characters more freedom to interact, build relationships and get to know each other better.

2. Poolside drama

After getting off to a bumpy start, when Tony caught Frances having a private meltdown on the side of the road en route to Tranquillum, they actively try to avoid each other. She was the “loony woman” and he was the “serial killer”. But the events that take place at the pool, is where the frost thaws on their relationship. In the book, Frances suffers from a random nosebleed, whereas in the show, the writers add a little comic relief with Frances almost choking on a grape which Tony threw into her mouth while she slept.

3. Masha’s life before the retreat

For someone like Nicole Kidman to take on the role of Masha, there had to be more depth to her character. In the book, she’s a ‘middle-aged overweight woman’ who is career hungry and ends up suffering from a cardiac arrest. But in the show, she is driven by the grief of losing her daughter. As a bit of an odd subplot, Masha is also portrayed as a victim, where her near-death experience comes not from a cardiac arrest but a gunshot wound. As the series progresses, we also find out that she is receiving sinister death threats.

4. Lars is not who he says he is…

One thing is consistent across both book and series: Lars is an ‘astonishingly handsome man’. And we can only agree given the character’s casting of Luke Evans (Dracula Untold, Beauty and the Beast) *swoon*. Moriarty’s version sees him as a divorce lawyer who is taking a break from his own relationship with Ray, where they had reached an ‘impossible impasse’ when it came to the decision on starting a family together.

In the series, Lars is an undercover journalist, investigating Masha and her unconventional methods at the retreat after the death of a previous guest. There’s more to Masha’s motivations, and she seems oddly fixated with the Marconi’s out of everyone and Lars is there to uncover why that is.

5. Masha’s motivations

In the show, Masha is plagued by the loss of her daughter, Tatiana, and will stop at nothing to reconnect with her spirit. She explains that her daughter came to her during a near-death experience which is largely why the retreat exists. It’s a way of her trying to understand the role of hallucinogens to see if she can get back to that state and reconnect with her daughter. Knowing that the Marconi’s have also experienced a huge loss in their lives, Masha wants to use this shared grief to test the new protocol so she can be with Tatiana one last time.

In the book, Masha has a baby boy who dies from strangling himself with a curtain string while she was looking after him.

This could just be down to Nicole Kidman’s ability to connect with the audience, but her version of Masha felt much more heart-felt and raw than the version of Masha we find between the pages.

6. A woman scorned

In the book, Carmel hasn’t gotten over her recent divorce and is obsessed with her own personal transformation so she could ‘move on from her failed marriage’. Carmel acts as a filler character in the book but actually her struggle is very relatable and she’s very easy to empathise with.

In the series her character is a woman scorned, seeking revenge on the person who acted as the catalyst in her demise. Regina Hall (Girls Trip, Think Like A Man), who plays Carmel, gives the character lots of layers, portraying her as a sweet, nervous woman with undertones of anger, envy and sadness. She is far more complicated, and I guess that makes for exciting viewing but several weeks later after reading the book, I’ve decided that I prefer Carmel on paper as her reaction to heartbreak was a bit more true to life, and I was able to empathise with that more. I found the on-screen subplot between her and Masha a little far-fetched.

7. Ben and Jessica

These two characters were the only ones who felt under-baked in the series in comparison to Moriarty’s novel. Screen time felt a bit wasted on them as it never really delved into the marital issues they were facing, issues that are actually pretty relevant in this modern world where cosmetic procedures are as easy to have as a bikini wax. In the book, Ben really struggled with the fact that his wife had bought her new face and body and just didn’t look the same anymore. His attraction to her wasn’t quite the same, and Jessica could feel this. This ultimately led to them parting ways in the conclusion; however, in the series, they manage to reconnect and end up taking over the retreat.

8. Delilah’s departure

Delilah’s feelings towards Masha and the retreat are largely the same as the book, however in the series, Delilah shows strong a conscience as she decides to make a stand, seeing her as a danger to everyone and intends to report her to the police which leads to a rather dramatic escape sequence as she drives a pickup truck through a fence.

In the book, her reason for leaving is more selfish when she decides Masha has gone too far and she’s not willing to down with the ship. She then precedes to stealing Ben’s Lamborghini and head for the nearest airport to leave this life behind her.

9. Masha’s entrapment of her guests

After the big reveal about the micro-dosing and the individual experiences they had while taking a higher dose of the drugs, all the guests were then locked in a yoga studio. This part of the plot went on for over 100 pages of the book (about 30 hours for the characters!). They don’t know whether it’s a test like an escape room or if they’re in there for more sinister reasons. It turns out that this is part of Masha’s plan to give them their own near-death experience and they realise that the door had been open for hours. This plot line really didn’t work for me and I found myself flicking through to see how long they would be trapped for.

In the show, not all the guests are part of the simulation. The Marconi’s are tripping in the woods while the rest of them are lured into the steam room to take care of a reeling Carmel. The sequence of events happens a lot quicker in the series, and Masha instigates the fire effect as soon as she leaves to go be with the Marconi’s as they are her main priority.

Nine Perfect Strangers is available to watch on Prime Video, or grab the book from Waterstones or Amazon.

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