20 Contemporary Retellings of Classic Novels

In his advice to writers, John Gardner once observed that there are only two plots: a man goes on a journey, or a stranger comes to town. That might explain why so many contemporary novels seem to be – either explicitly, or implicitly – retellings of classic stories we already know and love. I give props to the authors who are able to take a beloved plot and its characters and transplant them into a different context, creating something entirely new. Here are 20 contemporary retellings of classic novels that try to do just that.

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

Based on: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

Blurb: “Charles Dickens wrote David Copperfield from his experience as a survivor of institutional poverty and its damages to children in his society. Those problems have yet to be solved in ours. Dickens is not a prerequisite for readers of this novel, but he provided its inspiration. In transposing a Victorian epic novel to the contemporary American South, Barbara Kingsolver enlists Dickens’ anger and compassion, and above all, his faith in the transformative powers of a good story. Demon Copperhead speaks for a new generation of lost boys, and all those born into beautiful, cursed places they can’t imagine leaving behind.” Read my full review of Demon Copperhead here.

Vinegar Girl by Anne Tyler

Based on: The Taming Of The Shrew by William Shakespeare

Blurb: “Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler’s brilliant retelling of The Taming of the Shrew, asks whether a thoroughly modern woman like Kate would ever sacrifice herself for a man. The answer is as surprising as Kate herself. It’s an inspired, witty and irresistible contemporary take on one of Shakespeare’s most beloved comedies.”

Emma by Alexander McCall Smith

Based on: Emma by Jane Austen

Blurb: “The best-selling author of the No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency series deftly escorts Jane Austen’s meddlesome heroine Emma into the twenty-first century in this delightfully inventive retelling. Carriages have been replaced by Mini Coopers and cups of tea by cappuccinos in Emma, but Alexander McCall Smith’s sparkling satire and cozy sensibility are the perfect match for Jane Austen’s beloved tale.”

James by Percival Everett

Based on: The Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

Blurb: “While many narrative set pieces of Adventures of Huckleberry Finn remain in place (floods and storms, stumbling across both unexpected death and unexpected treasure in the myriad stopping points along the river’s banks, encountering the scam artists posing as the Duke and Dauphin…), Jim’s agency, intelligence and compassion are shown in a radically new light. Brimming with the electrifying humor and lacerating observations that have made Everett a “literary icon” (Oprah Daily), and one of the most decorated writers of our lifetime, James is destined to be a major publishing event and a cornerstone of twenty-first century American literature.” Read my full review of James here.

March by Geraldine Brooks

Based on: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Blurb: “From Louisa May Alcott’s beloved classic Little Women, Geraldine Brooks has animated the character of the absent father, March, and crafted a story filled with the ache of love and marriage and with the power of war upon the mind and heart of one unforgettable man. A lushly written, wholly original tale steeped in the details of another time, March secures Geraldine Brooks’s place as a renowned author of historical fiction.”

New Boy by Tracy Chevalier

Based on: Othello by William Shakespeare

Blurb: “In New Boy, the tragedy of Othello is transposed to a 1970s suburban Washington schoolyard, where kids fall in and out of love with each other before lunchtime, and practice a casual racism picked up from their parents and teachers. Peeking over the shoulders of four 11 year olds—Osei, Dee, Ian, and his reluctant “girlfriend” Mimi—Tracy Chevalier’s powerful drama of friends torn apart by jealousy, bullying, and betrayal will leave you reeling.”

Longbourn by Jo Baker

Based on: Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

Blurb: “In Longbourn, Jo Baker dares to take us beyond the drawing rooms of Jane Austen’s classic Pride And Prejudice – into the often overlooked domain of the stern housekeeper and the starry-eyed kitchen maid, into the gritty daily particulars faced by the lower classes in Regency England during the Napoleonic Wars – and, in doing so, creates a vivid, fascinating, fully realized world that is wholly her own.”

Sex And Vanity by Kevin Kwan

Based on: A Room With A View by E.M. Forster

Blurb: “Moving between summer playgrounds of privilege, peppered with decadent food and extravagant fashion, Sex and Vanity is a truly modern love story, a daring homage to A Room with a View, and a brilliantly funny comedy of manners set between two cultures.” Read my full review of Sex And Vanity here.

Becky by Sarah May

Based on: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray

Blurb: “A Vanity Fair for the mass-media age, Becky charts the rise and fall of an unforgettable heroine. Mingling with tabloid millionaires and trading favours with royalty, Becky lands scoop after scoop, ruthlessly carving a place for herself in a world determined to ignore her. These are the biggest stories of the decade, and Becky has something to do with every one of them. But Becky may have more in common with the people she writes about than she thinks – what takes a lifetime to build takes only a moment to destroy…”. Read my full review of Becky here.

If The Shoe Fits by Julie Murphy

Based on: Cinderella

Blurb: “A refreshing take on the classic Cinderella story. With a shiny new design degree but no job in sight, Cindy moves back in with her stepmother, Erica Tremaine, the executive producer of the world’s biggest dating reality show. When a contestant on Before Midnight bows out at the last minute, Cindy is thrust into the spotlight. Showcasing her killer shoe collection on network TV seems like a great way to jump-start her career. And, while she’s at it, why not go on a few lavish dates with an eligible suitor? If the Shoe Fits is so much more than a modern retelling of a classic tale. It’s a swoon-worthy slow burn romance that’s filled with heart and humor.” Read my full review of If The Shoe Fits here.

Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys

Based on: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Blurb: “With Wide Sargasso Sea, her last and best-selling novel, she ingeniously brings into light one of fiction’s most fascinating characters: the madwoman in the attic from Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre. This mesmerizing work introduces us to Antoinette Cosway, a sensual and protected young woman who is sold into marriage to the prideful Mr. Rochester. Rhys portrays Cosway amidst a society so driven by hatred, so skewed in its sexual relations, that it can literally drive a woman out of her mind.”

Meg & Jo by Virginia Kantra

Based on: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott

Blurb: “The March sisters—reliable Meg, independent Jo, stylish Amy, and shy Beth—have grown up to pursue their separate dreams. When their mother’s illness forces the sisters home to North Carolina for the holidays, they’ll rediscover what really matters. Meg & Jo is a must-read for anyone who grew up with Little Women and is a complex exploration of the power of time, place and identity.”

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

Based on: Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

Blurb: “A scandal and vicious rumor concerning the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won’t make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and have children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire the girls to dream of more. Told with wry wit and colorful prose, Unmarriageable is a charming update on Jane Austen’s beloved novel Pride And Prejudice, and an exhilarating exploration of love, marriage, class, and sisterhood.”

Pride And Prejudice And Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

Based on: Pride And Prejudice by Jane Austen

Blurb: “As our story opens, a mysterious plague has fallen upon the quiet English village of Meryton – and the dead are returning to life! Feisty heroine Elizabeth Bennet is determined to wipe out the zombie menace, but she’s soon distracted by the arrival of the haughty and arrogant Mr. Darcy. Complete with romance, heartbreak, swordfights, cannibalism, and thousands of rotting corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies transforms Pride And Prejudice into something you’d actually want to read.” Read my full review of Pride And Prejudice And Zombies here.

Emmett by L.C. Rosen

Based on: Emma by Jane Austen

Blurb: “A modern-day gay Emma, with the spikey social critique of Austen plus the lush over-the-top romance of Bridgerton. With a charmingly conceited lead who is convinced he knows it all, and the occasional reference to the classic movie Clueless, Emmett brings you lush romance all while exploring the complexities of queer culture—where your lovers and friends are sometimes the same person, but the person you fall in love with might be a total surprise.” Read my full review of Emmett here.

When She Woke by Hillary Jordan

Based on: The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Blurb: “Hillary Jordan’s provocative new novel, When She Woke, tells the story of a stigmatized woman struggling to navigate an America of a not-too-distant future, where the line between church and state has been eradicated and convicted felons are no longer imprisoned and rehabilitated but chromed―their skin color is genetically altered to match the class of their crimes―and then released back into the population to survive as best they can. Hannah is a Red; her crime is murder. The Scarlet Letter could unfurl from no better a speculative pen.”

How To Be Eaten by Maria Adelmann

Based on: Grimms’ Fairy Tales

Blurb: “How To Be Eaten, a darkly funny and provocative novel, reimagines classic fairy tale characters as modern women in a support group for trauma. In present-day New York City, five women meet in a basement support group to process their traumas. Bernice grapples with the fallout of dating a psychopathic, blue-bearded billionaire. Ruby, once devoured by a wolf, now wears him as a coat. Gretel questions her memory of being held captive in a house made of candy. Ashlee, the winner of a Bachelor-esque dating show, wonders if she really got her promised fairy tale ending. And Raina’s love story will shock them all.”

The Hours by Michael Cunningham

Based on: Mrs Dalloway by Virginia Woolf

Blurb: “The Hours tells the story of three women: Virginia Woolf, beginning to write Mrs Dalloway as she recuperates in a London suburb with her husband in 1923; Clarissa Vaughan, beloved friend of an acclaimed poet dying from AIDS, who in modern-day New York is planning a party in his honor; and Laura Brown, in a 1949 Los Angeles suburb, who slowly begins to feel the constraints of a perfect family and home. By the end of the novel, these three stories intertwine in remarkable ways, and finally come together in an act of subtle and haunting grace.” Read my full review of The Hours here.

Damascus by Christos Tsiolkas

Based on: The New Testament

Blurb: “In a far corner of the Roman Empire, a radical sect is growing. Alone, unloved and battling his sexuality, Saul scrapes together a living exposing these nascent Christians, but on the road to Damascus, everything changes. Saul – now Paul – becomes drawn into this new religion and its mysterious leader, whose crucifixion leaves followers waiting in limbo for his promised return. Damascus is an unflinching dissection of doubt, faith, tyranny, revolution, cruelty and sacrifice.” Read my full review of Damascus here.

The Art Of Fielding by Chris Harbach

Based on: Moby Dick by Herman Melville

Blurb: “At Westish College, a small school on the shore of Lake Michigan, baseball star Henry Skrimshander seems destined for big league stardom. But when a routine throw goes disastrously off course, the fates of five people are upended. The Art of Fielding is an expansive, warmhearted novel about ambition and its limits, about family and friendship and love, and about commitment – to oneself and to others.”