48 Recent and New Retellings (That Are Not Based on Greek Mythology)

Here at Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ World Headquarters, we like to think that all of our book roundups and recommendation articles are fun. And they are! Indubitably! But some are juuuuuust a little extra fun.
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This is one of those. Below, we've gathered up 48 new and upcoming retellings: books that take old classic stories (or myths or fairy tales or plays) and transport them into wild and wonderful new territories.?
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Retellings is typically the term used for these kinds of books, but often they¡¯re more like reimaginings, extended riffs, or wholesale transformations. These stories might shift the POV to another character or modernize the time frame of an older tale or change its genre entirely. For instance, Barbara Kingsolver¡¯²õ Pulitzer Prize¨Cwinning novel moves the action from Victorian-era England to contemporary Appalachia, while?Julia Armfield¡¯²õ upcoming Private Rites retells Shakespeare¡¯²õ King Lear in the mode of queer literary horror.
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A few notes: We¡¯ve trimmed the list a bit by excluding any books?that are based on Greek mythology. There are an awful lot of those¡ªenough to populate several separate roundups, in fact. We've also focused on books published since 2022 and?included both adult and YA titles. Below each book title, we¡¯ve indicated the name of the older story that¡¯²õ being retold. Finally, we¡¯ve added a bonus section at the end of the list for additional retellings being published later this year.
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Click on the book cover images for more details about each title. If anything looks promising, click the Want to Read button to add it to your personal shelf. ?
?
This is one of those. Below, we've gathered up 48 new and upcoming retellings: books that take old classic stories (or myths or fairy tales or plays) and transport them into wild and wonderful new territories.?
?
Retellings is typically the term used for these kinds of books, but often they¡¯re more like reimaginings, extended riffs, or wholesale transformations. These stories might shift the POV to another character or modernize the time frame of an older tale or change its genre entirely. For instance, Barbara Kingsolver¡¯²õ Pulitzer Prize¨Cwinning novel moves the action from Victorian-era England to contemporary Appalachia, while?Julia Armfield¡¯²õ upcoming Private Rites retells Shakespeare¡¯²õ King Lear in the mode of queer literary horror.
?
A few notes: We¡¯ve trimmed the list a bit by excluding any books?that are based on Greek mythology. There are an awful lot of those¡ªenough to populate several separate roundups, in fact. We've also focused on books published since 2022 and?included both adult and YA titles. Below each book title, we¡¯ve indicated the name of the older story that¡¯²õ being retold. Finally, we¡¯ve added a bonus section at the end of the list for additional retellings being published later this year.
?
Click on the book cover images for more details about each title. If anything looks promising, click the Want to Read button to add it to your personal shelf. ?
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Jul 22, 2024 02:02AM

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I agree, I get tired of looking up each book, so I never look at them all.


Maybe that¡¯²õ why I couldn¡¯t get interested in this book. I didn¡¯t pick up on the similarity.

I loved Hello Beautiful! It was a wonderful and very emotional family drama. And I hadn't read Little Women before.

??Here are some other retellings (for adults) I¡¯ve enjoyed:
Hester (retelling of The Scarlet Letter)
If the Shoe Fits (retelling of Cinderella)
Anastasia (reimagining of Anastasia's story)??
And here are some of my favorite YA retellings:?
Ella Enchanted (retelling of Cinderella)
My Lady Jane (reimaging of the history of Lady Jane Grey)
Cinder (retelling of Cinderella- all the books of this series are different retellings)
East (retelling of the story East of Sun, West of Moon)
To Kill a Kingdom (retelling of The Little Mermaid)
Heartless (retelling of Alice in Wonderland)
A Curse So Dark and Lonely (retelling of Beauty and the Beast)
For the Wolf (retelling of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast)
Stalking Jack the Ripper (reimagining of Jack the Ripper history)

A fun one you missed is The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins (a retelling of Jane Eyre)

I really enjoyed James. Much more than Huckleberry Finn!

Can you recommend me a book to read from this list?

Can you recommend me a book to read from this list?"
I loved Demon Copperhead! And James was really good too.


Agree on One for All! Also would recommend Exit, Pursued by a Bear, which is (loosely) The Winter's Tale.

They are both excellent. I just finished James¡ I wasn¡¯t sure if it was something I would like, but I loved it¡ couldn¡¯t put it down!

Kirby wrote: "I love this list! I didn¡¯t even know that some of these were retellings. I read a lot of retellings as a teen and I¡¯m glad to see more of them in books for adults. One of my favorite books of all t..."
You might like A Mirror Mended (Snow White) and A Spindle Splintered (Sleeping Beauty) both by Alix E. Harrow - loved them!

I liked "The daughter of doctor Moreau", I'd say you should read the original first though as it "spoils" it but at the same time the retelling is very different and you will not feel like reading the same novel twice.


My issue exactly!

James is pretty awesome. My favourite book this year so far.


James is fantastic. Really well done.


James was incredible. I highly recommend it.