Being a solid reader for almost the entirety of my life, I am always interested to know whether the visual media that I am consuming has a literary background or not. Needless to say, I am one of those individuals who, if has read the novel first, then pinpoints every single thing in the movie | or drama until they scoff and exclaim “The book’s better!” and crawls back to read the novel once again. Unfortunately, when it comes to Lakorns, obviously, I do not always get the fortune to read the novels because of the language barrier. But I do still think that it’s fascinating to | know if the lakorn I am watching was adapted from a novel and what the background information about the lakorn is. If you’re someone who can relate to this, I hope you enjoy this list, and I hope it inspires you to watch more lakorns and read more books ＼(^-^)／. |
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 "Two Worlds" (ทวิภพ) by Thommayanti, 1986. |  Maneejan finds out that she can travel to the past through a mirror she bought at an antique shop. That mirror brings her to the place of Khun Luang Akarathep Warakorn, a government official who lived over a hundred years ago.Her appearance causes him and everyone in the house a shock. But with her wit, she gradually gains everyone’s favor. The more times she travels to the past, the more feeling she and Khun Luang develop for each other. But, what causes her to travel to the past? Why is she the one chosen? In that time when Thailand (formerly Siam) was under pressure from Western Colonialism, will she be able to do anything to help save the country? While the problem of the country must be solved, Maneejan also faces another problem - the mirror starts to break. She needs to decide whether to reside with the man she loves in the past or to go back to the future to continue living her regular life with her family and friends.
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 "Love Destiny" (บุพเพสันนิวาส) by Rom Phaeng, 2010. |  Kadesurang is a 25-year-old chubby archaeologist. One day she suffers an accident after meeting Karakade’s ghost and goes back in time to the Ayutthaya era around 300 years ago. She wakes up in Karakade’s dead body right after she died.
Karakade was a very mean and selfish person. Everyone hated her, especially her betrothed Date, who liked another girl but his dad and Karakade’s dad were best friends, and they promised that their kids would marry each other. Karakade tries to kill her rival, but her rival’s servant dies instead. Date and his dad chant a spell in order to punish the culprit, which results in Karakade’s death.
After Kadesurang wakes up in Karakade’s body, everyone around her is confused now that she’s acting like a completely different person. But her optimistic and playful personality slowly wins over everyone, including Date, who falls in love with the new Karakade. |
 Bpoob Phaeh Saniwaat ( 2018) |  |
 “My Heart is almost Broken, Secretly in Love With My Husband” (อกเกือบหักแอบรักคุณสามี) by Lakkhana Thanikul, 2014. | Muey has been in love with her next-door neighbour Thien ever since she was in high school. Several years have passed, and Muey is still loyal in her selfless love.
When Thien, who is now an architect, finds himself in an entanglement with a mafia’s wife and under pressure claims Muey to be his fiancee, Thien’s mother arranges for Thien and Muey to marry at the latest in order to help her son get out of this life-threatening mess.
And so begins a love story between a sweet and selfless Muey, and an arrogant and oblivious Thien.
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My Husband-in-Law ( 2020) The English translation of the book can be found online ehem. |  |
 “Life’s Waves” (คลื่นชีวิต) by Krungchart, 1982. |  Jeerawat is a hardworking woman who is a famous model and actress. Her mother married a smarmy but rich man, who secretly lusts after her. After he attempts to drug Jeerawat, she manages to escape by driving away. Unfortunately, she hits a young woman on the road, who later dies at the hospital.The dead young woman has a fiancee, Sathit, who happens to be a lawyer. He vows revenge on the female driver who killed his beloved fiancee. Unfortunately, Jeerawat’s stepfather and mother use their influence and money to hide and hush all evidence. Sathit decides to stalk and bother her to find the evidence that she’s an evil and manipulative temptress. But in the end, he finds out she’s actually a good and kind person, despite her lowly beginnings, and gradually falls in love with her. |
 “Precious Stone” (ศิลามณี) by Warapa, 1968. |  The precious emerald necklace of Chiangrath has been given to the family of Parote Rachasena, who is proud of his dignity and looks down upon Northern women like his mother. In which has created his feud of hatred for Princess Saengfarng so she must go undercover as Ngam Saenluang and Mae Liang in order to get the Silamanee back. Between “him” and “her,” the feud that they have created towards each other, can it be turned into “love” or not? Only “Silamanee” will be the significant key to unlocking this puzzle. |
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 “Lineage" (สายโลหิต) by Sopak Suwan, 1981. |  Krai comes from a family of soldiers and has spent most of his life fighting in battles and wars for his country. Dao is the youngest daughter of a prominent village chief, who is very curious and happy go lucky as a youngster. Krai’s older brother marries Dao’s older sister, sealing the connection between both families. Krai meets Dao as a young girl, and he spends a lot of time taking care of her, buying her toys and taking her on village outings with him to the market. Krai and his older brother are called away to defend the border, and he promises Dao that he will return to take care of her always like an older brother. Years later, Krai comes back to realize that Dao has grown into a beautiful, young maiden and the good feelings that both had for each other from years ago resurface into true love. |
 “Prisna: The Story of a Young Modern Siamese Girl and Her Friends” (ปริศนา) by Princess Vibhavadi Rangsit, 1964. |  Prisna takes place in 1938 in Phra Nakhon, Thailand. Prissana is the youngest daughter of four girls and was the only one raised in America by their uncle. She is outgoing, cheerful, and pretty, but at the same time, she is also headstrong, intelligent, and opinionated. She returns to Thailand after living in America for 12 years and is once again reunited with her family. Prissana, whose name means “mystery, a puzzle/riddle,” causes quite a stir in Thailand with her open, American behavior and refreshing beauty, especially in the hearts of the stunned men — even the prince, Taan Chai Puthpreecha. |
 “Stardust” (ละอองดาว) by Phantom Thian, before 1964. |  Korakot Benjarong came back from the USA immediately after hearing about the death of Dr. Krai Benjarong, his father. On the first day he arrived Thailand, Lord Autthawatee, the family’s lawyer, informed him about the will that his father had prepared. The condition in the will stated that he would get his father’s entire asset only when he marries La Ong Dao, a girl who was adopted by Dr. Krai since she was born. However, Korakot had never met with La Ong Dao before because he was sent to study in the USA since he was a child, while she was sent to a boarding school in France. The only memory Korakot had about La Ong Dao was that she was “a chubby and grumpy little girl.” Now, he will be surprised to find out that La Ong Dao had grown up into a beautiful lady with her heart full of dignity. |
 “The Snare” (บ่วงบรรจถรณ์) by Kurtichana, na. |  Heartbroken and disappointed in love, Praenuan decides to visit the estate her estranged, late father left her in his will. There, she finds an enchanted bed that transports her back in time where she meets Laoperng, whom she later falls for. But there’s trouble when Praenuan’s estranged husband, who cheated on her, wants to reconcile with her. |
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 “Asoke’s Shadow” (เงาอโศก) by Chuwong Chayachinda, 1975, |  The story starts when Monthai is going to live in Australia to pursue his study. He is from a rich family. His father was a womanizer, seen by the fact Monthai has a half brother from different mom. There was a maid’s daughter name Lakkana who liked Monthai, but Monthai already had fiancé, Viyada, a spoilt woman from a rich family. Monthai’s mother knew about Lakkana’s love to Monthai, so she mistreats her and makes her suffer till she hangs herself to death. Years later, Monthai’s mother is sick, and the only way to recover is that Viyada takes care of her. Viyada didn’t want to take care of her future mother-in-law, so she sent her servant instead now Monthai coming back to Thailand, and when he saw Bpee replacing his fiancé, he misunderstands her and treat her very badly. Will he ever find out the truth? |
I hope you enjoyed reading the list. Especially seeing exactly when the source material behind the drama’s plot was actually released. I don’t know about you all but seeing that Kleun Cheewit’s novel was first published in 1982 suddenly makes everything make sense LOL. | I would also like to say that yes, I recommend all the dramas (except Kleun Cheewit) listed within this article — or at least the ones you can find eng subs for — as it is something I have watched myself and liked, or would like to watch in the future. If you are a seasoned lakorn viewer, | I hope you found one of your favourites here. If you’re a hopeful future viewer, please don’t get scared and walk right in! Thai lakorns are great, granted you can digest the spiciness that most of them contain (¬‿¬ ). No, really! It’s nice on this side! Very nice (¬‿¬ ). |
Edited by: Yuanwei (1st editor) & Jojo (2nd editor)
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