Fairy tale retellings
Fairy tale retellings books to start from. Open one to see books like it, or tell BookSense what you loved for four picks made for you.
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New to the genre? These 5 are the books to read first.
Beauty
Robin McKinleyAn early foundational novel that expanded Beauty and the Beast into a character study focused on domestic life and female agency.
Ella Enchanted
Gail Carson LevineA Cinderella retelling that reframes obedience as a curse to explore consent and free will within middle-grade fiction.
Spinning Silver
Naomi NovikAn adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin rooted in Eastern European Jewish history, class, and harsh economic survival.
Cinder
Marissa MeyerA science fiction reimagining that sets Cinderella as a cyborg mechanic in a futuristic, plague-ridden East Asia.
Briar Rose
Jane YolenA retelling that maps the Sleeping Beauty narrative onto the trauma and extermination camps of the Holocaust.
Chosen and described with AI from our notes on the genre.
More fairy tale retellings books
- Deerskin
DeerskinRobin McKinley - Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister (Maguire, Gregory)
Confessions of An Ugly Stepsister (Maguire, Gregory)Gregory Maguire - Boy, Snow, Bird
Boy, Snow, BirdHelen Oyeyemi - The Snow Child
The Snow ChildEowyn Ivey - The Bear and the Nightingale
The Bear and the NightingaleKatherine Arden - Revolting Rhymes
Revolting RhymesRoald Dahl1982 - Kissing the Witch
Kissing the WitchEmma Donoghue1993 - Politically Correct Bedtime Stories
Politically Correct Bedtime StoriesJames Finn Garner1994 - Black Swan, White Raven
Black Swan, White RavenEllen Datlow1997 - Feminist fairy tales
Feminist fairy talesBarbara G. Walker1996 - Androcles and the Lion
Androcles and the LionGeorge Bernard Shaw1913 - Fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm
Fairy tales from the Brothers GrimmJacob Grimm2012