For the Wolf

 

Whitten, H. (2021). For the Wolf. Little, Brown Book Group Ltd. 

A merging of Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding hood this first book in a series sees the second born daughter of a royal family sacrificing herself to the Wolf in the Woods for the good of the kingdom only to find that all the stories she was told were a lie and that there are worse things in these woods than wolves.

A New York Times Bestselling debut from an author Kirkus calls "a must-read new voice in fantasy." Kirkus Reviews, June 1, 2021.

See here for a list of content warnings.

Spinning Silver

 

Novik, N. (2019). Spinning Silver. Pan Macmillan. 

A new take on Rumpelstiltskin sees the daughter of a moneylender making a foolish boast that gets overheard by fey creatures who take her at her word. This book draws together three very different heroines from differing social classes to prevent events from tearing apart bother human and fey worlds.

Vinegar Girl

 

Tyler, A. (2016). Vinegar Girl. Penguin Random House. 

A modern revamp of The Taming of the Shrew, this version sees the older daughter of a medical researcher trying to be convinced to marry his assistant before he can be deported.

A tale of coerced marriage, this could be a hard story to sell to modern readers but both it and the original play use the premise to push the reader to re-think social norms and think critically about what it means to be forthright and sharp when the world wants you to be accommodating and dim.

Loungbourn

 

Baker J. (2014). Longbourn. Random House. 

This revisit to Jane Austen's classic Pride and Prejudice pushes the upper class characters to the back and instead shows us the lives and concerns of the people who keep the Bennet house running: the servants. 

Told from the point of view of Sarah, a housemaid, this novel lets us see the other side of the the stairs to give us an understanding of what life for those not lucky enough to be born into the nobility.

Jane Steele

Faye, L. (2017). Jane Steele. Headline Review. 

Jane Steele is inspired to write about her own life by a book she has read and loved, Jane Eyre. The lives of both Eyre and Steele at times mirror each other; both are orphaned and left in the hands of uncaring aunts and vicious headmasters only to come under the spell mysterious men who have secrets to keep. However in one way they differ greatly is that Jane Steele is a murderer many times over, sometimes for love, sometimes out of necessity, and now she looks to recover her birth-right.

While touching on dark themes such as murder, child abuse and domestic violence this book is also praised as being "wickedly entertaining" by Booklist and was nominated for an Edgar Award for best novel in 2017.

Romeo + Juliet

 

Luhrman, B. (Director). (1996). Romeo + Juliet [Film]. 20th Century Fox.

An explosively colourful and at times frenetic telling of the classic tale of star-crossed lovers, this film by Australian director Baz Luhrman brings the story to 1990s Verona while keeping the original dialogue to create a whirling mix of classic and modern.

You know the story, you know how it ends, but even then keep tissues by your side and be prepared to be swept up in this film.

 

The Bloody Chamber

 

Carter, A. (1995). The Bloody chamber and other stories. Penguin Random House. 

Originally published in 1979 Angela Carter took inspiration from classic fairy tales and rewove them into dark, sensual stories filled with gruesome themes of both horror and liberation.

Through these stories the protagonists face down vampires, elves and humans to make their way through woods both figurative and literal.

Please not this books does contain adult themes and may not be suitable for younger readers.