Classics Retold

Classic novels rewritten for modern audiences and introduced to new generations of readers.
Updated September 19, 2022
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Circe : a novel
Miller, Madeline
Paper Book
This #1 New York Times bestseller is a "bold and subversive retelling of the goddess's story" that brilliantly reimagines the life of Circe, formidable sorceress of The Odyssey (Alexandra Alter, TheNew York Times). In the house of Helios,...
The fleshed-out story of Circe, a character from the Odyssey.
Ayesha at last
Jalaluddin, Uzma
Paper Book
Pride and Prejudice with a modern twist    AYESHA SHAMSI has a lot going on.  Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is...
A modern day Muslim Pride & Prejudice
Boy, snow, bird : a novel
Oyeyemi, Helen.
Paper Book
As seen on the cover of the New York Times Book Review, where it was described as "gloriously unsettling... evoking Toni Morrison, Haruki Murakami, Angela Carter, Edgar Allan Poe, Gabriel García Márquez, Chris Abani and even Emily Dickinson," and already one of the year's most...
The reimagined story of Snow White set in 1950s America.
On beauty : a novel
Smith, Zadie.
Paper Book
When Howard Belsey's oldest son Jerome falls for Victoria, the stunning daughter of the right-wing Monty Kipps, both families find themselves thrown together, enacting a cultural and personal war against each other.
Loosely based on E.M. Forster's Howard's End, set in modern day U.K.
The hours
Cunningham, Michael
Paper Book
A daring, deeply affecting third novel by the author ofA Home at the End of the WorldandFlesh and Blood. InThe Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised as one of the most gifted writers of his generation, draws inventively on the life and work of Virginia...
Three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by Mrs Dalloway.
Eligible
Sittenfeld, Curtis
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * Wonderfully tender and hilariously funny, Eligible both honors and updates Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Tackling gender, class, courtship, and family, Curtis Sittenfeld reaffirms herself as one of the most dazzling authors writing today....
A modern retelling of Pride & Prejudice
Wicked : the life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West, a novel
Maguire, Gregory.
Paper Book
When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum's classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch Where did she come from How did she become so wicked Gregory Maguire has created a fantasy...
An exploration of the characters & setting of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The daughter of Doctor Moreau : a novel
Moreno-Garcia, Silvia
Paper Book
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * From the bestselling author of Mexican Gothic and Velvet Was the Night comes a lavish historical drama reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set against the backdrop of nineteenth-century Mexico. "This is...
A reimagining of The Island of Doctor Moreau set in nineteenth-century Mexico.
Bridget Jones's diary : a novel
Fielding, Helen
Paper Book
'Helen Fielding is one of the funniest writers in Britain and Bridget Jones is a creation of comic genius' Nick HornbyBridget Jones's Diary was first published in 1996 and applauded by critics from Salman Rushdie to Jilly Cooper. A number one best-seller, Helen Fielding's book has sold over fifteen...
Roughly based on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.
Pride and prejudice and zombies : the classic Regency romance -- now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem
Grahame-Smith, Seth.
Paper Book
The New York Times best seller is now a major motion picture starring Lily James and Sam Riley, with Matt Smith, Charles Dance, and Lena Headey.    This deluxe heirloom edition includes a new preface by coauthor Seth Grahame-Smith, thirteen oil...
Inspired, of course, by Pride & Prejudice.
Pride
Zoboi, Ibi Aanu
Paper Book
In a timely update of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, National Book Award finalist Ibi Zoboi skillfully balances cultural identity, class, and gentrification against the heady magic of first love in her vibrant reimagining of this beloved classic. A smart, funny, gorgeous...
A retelling of Pride & Prejudice set in Brooklyn with a much more diverse cast of characters than the original.
Telling tales
Agbabi, Patience
Paper Book
Inspired by Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.
Cinder
Meyer, Marissa.
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times Bestselling Series! Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth's fate hinges on one girl. . ....
A futuristic retelling of Cinderella.
The song of Achilles
Miller, Madeline
Paper Book
**OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD** WINNER OF THE ORANGE WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION THE INTERNATIONAL SENSATION A SUNDAY TIMES AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER 'Captivating' DONNA TARTT 'I loved it' J K ROWLING
Homer's Iliad as told from the perspective of the character Patroclus.
The Eyre affair
Fforde, Jasper.
Paper Book
The first book in the phenomenally successful Thursday Next series, from Number One bestselling author Jasper Fforde. 'Always ridiculous, often hilarious ... blink and you miss a vital narrative leap. There are shades of Douglas Adams, Lewis Carroll, 'Clockwork...
Set in an alternative 1985, where the protagonist pursues a master criminal through the world of Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre.
Meg and Jo
Kantra, Virginia
Ebook
The timeless classic Little Women inspired this heartwarming modern tale of four sisters from New York Times bestselling author Virginia Kantra. The March sisters--reliable Meg, independent Jo, stylish Amy, and shy Beth--have grown up to pursue their separate dreams...
A modern retelling of Little Women.
Jane Steele : a confession
Faye, Lyndsay
Paper Book
Nominated for the 2017 Edgar Award for Best Novel The reimagining of Jane Eyre as a gutsy, heroic serial killer that The New York Times Book Review calls "wonderfully entertaining" and USA Today describes as "sheer mayhem meets Victorian propriety."  <...
A reimagining of Jane Eyre as a serial killer.
The Penelopiad
Atwood, Margaret
Paper Book
New boy : Othello retold
Chevalier, Tracy
Paper Book
'O felt her presence behind him like a fire at his back.' Arriving at his fourth school in six years, diplomat's son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day - so he's lucky to hit it off with Dee, the most popular girl in school. But one student...
A play on Shakespeare's Othello set in the 70s on a school playground.
I, Iago
Galland, Nicole.
Paper Book
From Nicole Galland, acclaimed author of The Fool's Tale, comes a marvelous evocation of a distant time and place . . . and a breathtaking reexamination of one of literature's classic villains From earliest childhood, the precocious boy called Iago had inconvenient tendencies...
Nutshell
McEwan, Ian.
Paper Book
**The Number One Sunday Timesbestseller**A Daily Telegraph / Guardian / Irish Times / Spectator / Sunday Times / The Times Book of the YearTrudy has betrayed her husband, John. She's still in the marital home - a dilapidated, priceless...
The story of Hamlet narrated by a fetus in his mother's womb.
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead
Stoppard, Tom.
Paper Book
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is a play which, as it were, takes place in the wings of Hamlet, and finds both humour and poignancy in the situation of the ill-fated attendant lords. The National Theatre production in April 1967 made Tom Stoppard's reputation virtually...
Fool
Moore, Christopher
Paper Book
"Hilarious, always inventive, this is a book for all, especially uptight English teachers, bardolaters, and ministerial students." --Dallas Morning News Fool--the bawdy and outrageous New York Times bestseller from the unstoppable Christopher Moore--is a hilarious new take on...
The story of King Lear's Fool
March
Brooks, Geraldine.
Paper Book
As the North reels under a series of unexpected defeats during the dark first year of the war, one man leaves behind his family to aid the Union cause. His experiences will utterly change his marriage and challenge his most ardently held beliefs. Riveting and elegant as it is meticulously researched...
Wide Sargasso Sea
Rhys, Jean
Paper Book
Jean Rhys's reputation was made upon the publication of this passionate and heartbreaking novel, in which she brings into the light one of fiction's most mysterious characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre. Set in the Caribbean, its heroine is Antoinette Cosway, a...
A feminist prequel to Jane Eyre
The other Bennet sister : a novel
Hadlow, Janice
Paper Book
A NPR CONCIERGE BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR "Jane fans rejoice! . . . Exceptional storytelling and a true delight." --Helen Simonson, author of the New York Times bestselling novels Major Pettigrew's Last Stand and The Summer Before the War<...
Longbourn
Baker, Jo.
Paper Book
* Pride and Prejudice was only half the story *   If Elizabeth Bennet had the washing of her own petticoats, Sarah often thought, she'd most likely be a sight more careful with them.   In this irresistibly imagined belowstairs answer to...
A story of the lives of the servants at Longbourn, the house of the Bennetts in Pride & Prejudice.
Emma : a modern retelling
McCall Smith, Alexander
Paper Book
The best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series deftly escorts Jane Austen's beloved, meddlesome heroine into the twenty-first century in this delightfully inventive retelling.The summer after university, Emma Woodhouse returns home to the village of Highbury, where she will...
Frankissstein : a love story
Winterson, Jeanette
Paper Book
***LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOKER PRIZE 2019*** **SHORTLISTED FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE 2020** **LONGLISTED FOR THE POLARI PRIZE 2020** A radical love story for right now, from 'one of the most gifted writers working today' (New York Times)<...
Frankenstein in Baghdad : a novel
Saʻdāwī, Aḥmad
Paper Book
*International Booker Prize finalist* "Brave and ingenious." --The New York Times "Gripping, darkly humorous . . . profound." --Phil Klay, bestselling author and National Book Award winner for Redeployment "Extraordinary . . . A...
Home fire
Shamsie, Kamila
Paper Book
Winner of the 2018 Women's Prize for FictionLonglisted for the Man Booker PrizeTwo families' fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences.
A retelling of Sophocles's Antigone set among British Muslims.
Lavinia
Le Guin, Ursula K.
Paper Book
'Like Spartan Helen, I caused a war. She caused hers by letting men who wanted her take her. I caused mine because I wouldn't be given, wouldn't be taken, but chose my man and my fate. The man was famous, the fate obscure; not a bad balance.' Lavinia is the daughter of the King of Latium, a...
An imagining of the life of Lavinia, a minor character in Virgil's Aeneid.
Girl meets boy
Smith, Ali
Paper Book
'Girl Meets Boy' is a novel from the pen of Ali Smith, author of 'Free Love', 'Like', and 'The Accidental'.
Based on Ovid's story "Iphis and Ianthe" from his Metamorphoses.
Grendel
Gardner, John
Paper Book
For use in schools and libraries only. The Beowulf story retold from the monster's point of view reveals the darker side of human nature and values.
The retelling of the Old English poem Beowulf from the perspective of the antagonist, Grendel.
Alice
Henry, Christina
Paper Book
Alice has been in the mental hospital in Old Town for years. She doesn't remember why. All she can remember is a tea party long ago. Long ears and blood. Until one night she escapes, free to uncover the truth about what happened to her all those years ago. When Alice escapes, something escapes with...
The ballad of Black Tom
LaValle, Victor D.
Paper Book
One of NPR's Best Books of 2016, winner of the Shirley Jackson Award, the British Fantasy Award, the This is Horror Award for Novella of the Year, and a finalist for the Hugo, Nebula, Locus, World Fantasy, and Bram Stoker Awards People move to New York looking for magic...
A retelling H. P. Lovecraft's "The Horror at Red Hook" from the viewpoint of a black man.

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