This Paranormal Fantasy Novel Is Getting a TV Adaptation, and It's Perfect for Halloween

Published Oct 14, 2026, 7:33 AM EDT Elizabeth is a Books & Television Writer for Collider. She received both her BA and MPhil in English Literature from the University of Cambridge, graduating with honors. While she was at Cambridge, she utilized her love for historical fiction by specializing in Victorian women’s writing. Elizabeth enjoys reading both contemporary fiction and the classics. As a creative writer, she has been awarded The Anne Rivers Siddons Prize for Short Fiction and has been shortlisted for The Adroit Prize for Prose. If she is not reading or writing, you can find her swimming, antiquing, and bingeing on a cozy period drama like The Other Bennet Sister or Call the Midwife. With Halloween just around the corner, readers everywhere will be searching for their next seasonal read. From cozy mysteries to supernatural thrillers and classic whodunnits, the lead-up to the spooky holiday gives readers the perfect excuse to explore something a little darker. One new release, however, blends ghostly thrills with sharp social commentary on mental health, capitalism, and how we grieve our dead, and that’s Ghost Month by British writer Simon Wroe. Set in modern-day London, Ghost Month imagines a world almost identical to our own, except for one big difference: Every September, the spirits of the dead return to visit the living before disappearing four weeks later in a puff of green ash. What began as a supernatural phenomenon has become a worldwide annual event. “Ghost Month,” as it became known, evolves into a worldwide holiday. Children learn about Ghost Month in their schools, shops tack up promotional window signs, and “anti-haunting” services spring up all around London. In other words, humans (well, most of them) have found a way to coexist with their ghosts while also commercializing them, too. 'Ghost Month' Has An Ensemble Cast Image via Faber & Faber When the novel opens in the last days of August, we meet four very different protagonists, all of whom are preparing for their yearly hauntings. Jane, a middle-aged schoolteacher, is dreading the arrival of her judgmental mother’s ghost. 10-year-old Eddie, whose family has recently been rocked by the death of his older brother, David, doesn’t really know how to feel about his impending sibling reunion. Lil, a homeless woman whose life revolves around where to get her next drink, is already haunted by her past and wishes she could skip Ghost Month entirely. Meanwhile, spoiled Gideon, the son of a high-flying businessman, is busy trying to hire body doubles in order to trick some mysterious, unnamed ghosts who he can’t seem to shake. Together, these four storylines create a rich portrait of modern London, highlighting the stark differences between the city’s haves and the have-nots. Despite their differences in economic and social standing, they all reckon with similar emotional tsunamis. From Gideon’s penthouse bedroom to Lil’s park bench, each character must face the same unsettling question: How do I learn to finally make peace with my past? 'Ghost Month' Pays Homage to Other Great Ghost Stories Wroe’s paranormal fantasy taps into a long tradition of supernatural storytelling, from Shakespeare's Hamlet to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. In these famous stories, ghosts serve as metaphors, often embodying a past that the protagonist can’t leave behind, or representing a message the main character must learn in the present. Think, for example, of how the ghost of Hamlet Sr. is a constant reminder to the Danish prince of his grief and anger, or how the Ghost of Christmas Present represents the life of happiness that Scrooge could be living if he changed his ways. All of this is to say – a ghost is always more than a ghost, and it’s no different in Wroe’s universe. Ghost Month just takes this familiar literary device and gives it a contemporary twist. Wroe’s specters return because something remains unresolved: A crime, a betrayal, or a truth that the living would rather ignore. The result is a story that can be both profound and darkly comedic. When Jane hires a husband-for-hire to fool the ghost of her mother into thinking she’s a domestic goddess (and a heterosexual one, at that), readers can’t help but laugh. However, it doesn’t take long before the unraveling of Jane’s scheme reveals the true shame she feels towards her sexuality, poking the reader right in the feels. 'Ghost Month' Isn't Alone in the Ghost Revival Image via Hanover Square Press There are shades here of Toshikazu Kawaguchi's novel Before the Coffee Gets Cold, the Japanese literary bestseller where encounters with spirits offer characters the chance to revisit past relationships. But where stories about returning or reviving the dead often emphasize the comfort of one last conversation or a final reckoning, Ghost Month is more interested in the complicated emotions that such reunions might unleash. Put simply, seeing a lost loved one again does not necessarily make bereavement easier. In addition to Kawaguchi's breakout success, many other contemporary novels are equally invested in ideas of ghosts and the afterlife. This makes Ghost Month just the latest installment in a burgeoning lineage of spooky spectral novels. In Mariana Enriquez's August 2026 release, Somebody Is Walking on Your Grave: My Cemetery Journeys, the Argentine novelist captures her experience traveling the world and visiting famous grave sites. Similarly, 2026 fiction releases such as Gabrielle Sher’s Odessa and Pia Ghosh-Roy’s And I Am the Arrow explore what happens when the dead return to the world of the living, whether through resurrection or a ghostly voice that speaks directly to the reader. Could 'Ghost Month' Be the Next Big TV Adaptation? Image via Netflix Readers looking for their next Halloween obsession may also want to keep an eye on Ghost Month for another reason: The novel is already being developed for television. Clerkenwell Films, the production company behind Netflix's Baby Reindeer, has secured the adaptation rights. The project is being developed alongside a global streaming service, although a release date and further details have yet to be announced. Between the puffs of green ash and the Ghost Month billboards dotted around the Big Smoke, Ghost Month’s premise certainly lends itself to a visual medium like television. Not only will the book’s London setting make for a particularly dynamic backdrop, but Wroe's descriptions of his “people without pulses" feel vivid and tangible in a way that would surely entice any special effects professional. Plus, with Wroe tapped to write the show, there’s a good chance that the scripts will retain the book’s mix of comedy and drama, making for a compelling and easily bingeable series. It’s a mystery just how long Halloween lovers will have to wait to see this story play out on the small screen, but, in the meantime, the novel makes for ideal atmospheric autumn fare.