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Ring of Bright Water

In the movie: Graham Merrill is wandering the streets of London, when he happens to pass by a pet shop selling an adorably charming otter. Merrill adopts the little critter, names him Mij, and brings him back to his apartment. Soon enough, he realizes that an apartment is not an ideal home for an otter, so he and Mij move to a cottage in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of Scotland. Merrill begins to fall in love with a local doctor, as Mij keeps up his delightful hijinks throughout the film, which has a shocking ending that we won’t ruin for you here.

In the book: The writer moves to the middle of nowhere in Scotland on his own and describes the beauty of his natural surroundings in so much depth that the otter doesn’t appear until halfway through the book. Did we say “otter”? We meant to say “otters.” That’s right, there are more than a few of the cute critters, many of which get lost or die throughout the book. Oh, and the romance with the doctor? That never comes up in the book.