As summer shades into fall, there are plenty of new book-to-screen adaptations on the horizon. Be on the lookout for Kirkus’ in-depth columns about Three Women, a Starz series based on the nonfiction book by Lisa Taddeo, starring Shailene Woodley and Betty Gilpin (premiering Sept. 13), and The Wild Robot, an animated film version of the Kirkus-starred children’s novel by Peter Brown, featuring the voices of Lupita Nyong’o and Pedro Pascal (premiering Sept. 27). Here are four more book-to-screen adaptations coming in September:

Sept. 5: The Perfect Couple (series premiere, Netflix)

In Elin Hildebrand’s Kirkus-starred 2018 mystery novel, a woman’s Nantucket wedding day is thrown in chaos when the corpse of her best friend and bridesmaid, Merritt Monaco, washes up on the beach. Any member of the wedding party could be the killer, including the bride-to-be, Celeste Otis; her fiancé, Benji Winbury, who hails from a wealthy family; or his mother, the successful mystery novelist Greer Garrison Winbury. There are plenty of secrets that complicate the narrative, which skips back and forth in time; for instance, Celeste, when she found Merritt’s body, seemed ready to flee the island with packed bag in hand. This promising Netflix series adaptation is directed by Susanne Bier (The Undoing) and boasts a stellar cast including Oscar winner Nicole Kidman as Greer; Tony Award winner Liev Schreiber as her husband, Tag Winbury; The Knick’s Eve Hewson as the bride (here renamed Amelia Sacks); Under the Banner of Heaven’s Billy Howle as Benji; Dakota Fanning as Benji’s sister-in-law, Abby; and the excellent Meghann Fahy (The White Lotus) as Merritt.

Sept. 10: The Chicken Sisters (series premiere, Hallmark+)

This series adaptation of KJ Dell’Antonia’s 2020 novel is set to premiere on the brand-new streaming service Hallmark+, which also launches on Sept.10. It features Lea Thompson of Caroline in the City and Back to the Future fame, as well as the always-amusing Wendie Malick (Just Shoot Me!). The book is set in the fictional town of Merinac, Kansas, the home of two rival chicken restaurants—Chicken Mimi’s and Chicken Frannie’s. Founders Mimi and Frannie are sisters, but instead of working in harmony the two branches of the family have competed ferociously for generations. Mimi’s features a casual dining experience, and Frannie’s is somewhat fancier—but which is better? A contest with a $10,000 prize, run by a reality TV show, could answer that question once and for all. Our reviewer called the book “a charming and satisfying story about family bonds,” and Thompson and Malick should lend the series its own quirky charm.

Sept. 13: Uglies (film premiere, Netflix)

Uglies, the Kirkus-starred first installment of Scott Westerfeld’s bestselling YA series, was an early entry what would be become a wildly popular genre of teens taking on authoritarian regimes. It was published back in 2005—three years before Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games, and six years before Veronica Roth’s Divergent. In Westerfeld’s dark future, all people are considered “Uglies” until the age of 16, when they receive plastic surgery procedures that turn them into conventionally attractive “Pretties”; then they move to a place called New Pretty Town and embark on proscribed, predictable lives. Fifteen-year-old Tally Youngblood is looking forward to becoming a Pretty until she meets Shay, a cool, hoverboard-riding Ugly who tries to convince her to avoid the procedure and run away with her to a rebel settlement called the Smoke. Then Tally has a disturbing conversation with Dr. Cable of the government’s secret police, who wants her to help them find and destroy the Smoke. This Netflix film version looks intriguing, if a bit familiar after all these years; it will certainly be instructive to compare it to the many Hunger Games and Divergent films that have come before it. It stars The Act’s Joey King as Tally, Laverne Cox as Dr. Cable, and Brianne Tju as Shay, who delivered a memorable performance in the criminally underseen Hulu horror series Light as a Feather.

Sept. 27: Lee (theatrical film premiere)

Elizabeth “Lee” Miller had a brief but successful career as a fashion model in the 1920s and later collaborated with the brilliant photographer Man Ray, with whom she had a relationship. She befriended such art-world luminaries as Jean Cocteau and Pablo Picasso before establishing her own New York photography studio. Later, she became a war photographer for Vogue during World War II and documented the horrors of concentration camps, which greatly traumatized her. After her death in 1977, her son, Antony Penrose, successfully worked to bring her work to public attention. In 2011, he even published a children’s book, The Boy Who Bit Picasso, which featured his mother’s photographs of himself and the Spanish artist, whom he knew as a child. But his 1985 adult biography, The Lives of Lee Miller, established his mother's reputation as a respected artist, and it provides the basis for this sweeping new film. It stars Oscar winner Kate Winslet as Miller and Challengers’ Josh O’Connor as Penrose, with a talented supporting cast that includes Marion Cotillard, Portrait of a Lady on Fire’s Noémie Merlant, and Andy Samberg in a rare dramatic role.

David Rapp is the senior Indie editor.