Classics Retold

Classic novels rewritten for modern audiences and introduced to new generations of readers.
Updated September 19, 2022
Unbound Librarians Unbound Librarians
This is your list in printable form. Simply print this page using your browser's print command.

Classics Retold

Classic novels rewritten for modern audiences and introduced to new generations of readers.
Drag items up and down to your preferred order then select the "Save Order" button.
Circe
Madeline Miller
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
Uzma Jalaluddin
Paper Book
As seen on The Today Show! One of the best summer romance picks! One of Publishers Weekly Best Romance Books of 2019! A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love. Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of...
A modern day Muslim Pride & Prejudice
Boy, Snow, Bird
Helen Oyeyemi
Ebook
"Helen Oyeyemi has fully transformed from a literary prodigy into a powerful, distinctive storyteller...Transfixing and surprising."--Entertainment Weekly (Grade: A) "I don't care what the magic mirror says; Oyeyemi is the cleverest in the land...daring and unnerving... Under...
The reimagined story of Snow White set in 1950s America.
On Beauty
Zadie Smith
Audiobook
Set on both sides of the Atlantic, Zadie Smith's third novel is a brilliant analysis of family life, the institution of marriage, intersections of the personal and political, and an honest look at people's deceptions. It is also, as you might expect, very funny indeed.     ...
Loosely based on E.M. Forster's Howard's End, set in modern day U.K.
The Hours
Michael Cunningham
Paper Book
Beautifully repackaged as part of the Picador Modern Classics series, this special edition of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is small enough to fit in your pocket and bold enough to stand out on your bookshelf. In The Hours, Michael Cunningham, widely praised...
Three women of different generations whose lives are interconnected by Mrs Dalloway.
Eligible
Curtis Sittenfeld
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
Gregory Maguire
Paper Book
The #1 New York Times bestseller and basis for the Tony-winning hit musical, and smash hit movie series starring Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande With millions of copies in print around the world, Gregory Maguire's Wicked is established not only as a commentary...
An exploration of the characters & setting of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
The Daughter of Doctor Moreau
Silvia Moreno-Garcia
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
Helen Fielding
Ebook
Roughly based on Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice.
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies
Seth Grahame-Smith
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. Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and...
Inspired, of course, by Pride & Prejudice.
Pride
Ibi Zoboi
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.
Cinder
Marissa Meyer
Paper Book
Soon to be adapted into major motion picture! The first book in the #1 New York Times- and USA Today-Bestselling Lunar Chronicles series by the "Queen of fairytale retellings," Marissa Meyer! See where the futuristic YA fairytale saga all began, with the tale of a teenage...
A futuristic retelling of Cinderella.
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller
Paper Book
A New York Times Bestseller "At once a scholar's homage to The Iliad and startlingly original work of art....A book I could not put down." --Ann Patchett, author of The Dutch House A thrilling, profoundly moving, and utterly unique retelling of the...
Homer's Iliad as told from the perspective of the character Patroclus.
Meg and Jo
Virginia Kantra
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.
Tiger Lily
Jodi Lynn Anderson
Paper Book
In this stunning reimagining of J. M. Barrie's beloved classic Peter Pan, New York Times bestselling author Jodi Lynn Anderson expertly weaves a gripping tale of love, loss, and adventure. When fifteen-year-old Tiger Lily meets the alluring teenage Peter Pan deep in the forbidden...
The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
Margaret Atwood
Paper Book
"Homer's Odyssey is not the only version of the story. Mythic material was originally oral, and also local -- a myth would be told one way in one place and quite differently in another. I have drawn on material other than the Odyssey, especially for the details of Penelope's...
New Boy
Tracy Chevalier
Paper Book
Tracy Chevalier brings Shakespeare's Othello--a harrowing drama of jealousy and revenge--to a 1970s era elementary school playground.  Arriving at his fifth school in as many years, diplomat's son Osei Kokote knows he needs an ally if he is to survive his first day-...
A play on Shakespeare's Othello set in the 70s on a school playground.
I, Iago
Nicole Galland
Ebook
"Nicole Galland is exceptionally well versed in the fine nuances of storytelling." --St. Petersburg Times "Galland has an exceptional gift." --Neal Stephenson The critically acclaimed author of The Fool's Tale, Nicole Galland now approaches William...
Nutshell
Ian McEwan
Audiobook
From the bestselling author of Atonement, Nutshell is a classic story of murder and deceit, told by a narrator with a perspective and voice unlike any in recent literature. A bravura performance, it is the finest recent work from a true master. To be bound in a nutshell, see the world in two inches...
The story of Hamlet narrated by a fetus in his mother's womb.
March
Geraldine Brooks
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...
Mr. Rochester
Sarah Shoemaker
Paper Book
"A CRACKING-GOOD READ!"-- People, Best New Books A deft and irresistible retelling of Charlotte Bronte´s beloved classic Jane Eyre--from the point of view of the dashing, mysterious Mr. Rochester himself. For 170 years, Edward Fairfax Rochester has stood as one of literature...
The Other Bennet Sister
Janice Hadlow
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
Jo Baker
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...
A story of the lives of the servants at Longbourn, the house of the Bennetts in Pride & Prejudice.
Emma
Alexander McCall Smith
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...
Frankissstein
Jeanette Winterson
Paper Book
This "thought-provoking and . . . unabashedly entertaining . . . novel defies conventional expectations and exists, brilliantly and defiantly, on its own terms" (Sarah Lotz, New York Times Book Review). Lake Geneva, 1816. Nineteen-year-old Mary Shelley is inspired to...
Home Fire
Kamila Shamsie
Paper Book
"Ingenious... Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I've read in a novel this century." --The New York Times WINNER OF THE 2018 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION FINALIST FOR THE 2019 INTERNATIONAL DUBLIN LITERARY AWARD LONGLISTED FOR...
A retelling of Sophocles's Antigone set among British Muslims.
Grendel
John Gardner
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.
Find this list online

https://librarian.syndetics.com/syndeticsunbound/lp/882.1246/list/290

Library staff! You can create and contribute to lists. Contact your catalog administrator or log in here.