Bewitching Fairy Tale Retellings and Reimaginings

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7 books

Fairy and folk tales speak to our deep longings and fears, which makes them a rich vehicle for reimagining and exploration. Whether the lens is horror or fantasy, the writers on this list dive deep into classic stories to find new beauty, terror, and meaning.

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Red as Blood

Tales of the Sisters Grimmer

Tanith Lee, 2021

What if Snow White was the villain? What if waking Sleeping Beauty would be a terrible mistake? Find out in this brilliant collection by the original queen of the deliciously dark fairy tale. Tanith Lee reimagines ten classic stories (from Snow White to the Pied Piper to Swan Lake) in settings ranging from the last century BCE to the future. Her sharp, beautiful prose is the perfect way to discover the frightening core of your favorite childhood story.

Tam Lin

Pamela Dean, 2006

The Scottish ballad is reimagined for the modern era and set at a fictional Midwest college in the 1970s. It seamlessly combines the engaging story of Janet Carter’s coming of age with a world of mysterious and annoying classics majors, actors who might have known Shakespeare, a haunted dormitory, and a battle with the Fairy Queen. Dean’s deep love of English literature is on full display (as an English major, I heartily approve).

Beauty

A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast

Robin McKinley, 2014

Robin McKinley has a very good track record with fairy tale retellings (she even retold the story of Beauty and Beast in a completely different way in Rose Daughter). Beauty was the first one I ever read and remains one of my favorites. McKinley’s Beauty is smart, bookish, and resilient, her beast is charming and thoughtful, the book brims with fully-imagined secondary characters, including a particularly fine horse.

Deerskin

Robin McKinley, 2014

This is one of Robin McKinley’s other fine fairy tale novels, based on the lesser-known story Donkeyskin. It movingly explores betrayal, trauma, courage, and survival. Princess Lissar is the image of her mother, but her beauty is a trap that she escapes only at a terrible cost. Deerskin is fierce, powerful, and compassionate – and perfect for anyone who loves dogs (or honestly, anyone who doesn’t).

The Girls at the Kingfisher Club

Genevieve Valentine, 2015

“By 1927, there were twelve girls who danced all night and never gave names, but then the men had given up asking and called them all Princess.” Prohibition New York is the perfect place to set a retelling of The Twelve Dancing Princesses. Jo and her sisters escape the oppression of their father’s house into the world of nightclubs and speakeasies, where they find both love and freedom.

Deathless

Catherynne M. Valente, 2011

Koschei the Deathless is the villain of countless Russian folk tales. Valente reimagines him in Soviet Russia during the Revolution and the Second World War. Koschei chooses Marya, a human girl, as his bride and their love and conflict plays out across the dark background of war, death, hunger, and conquest. A collision of magical and actual history, revolution, and mythology, told with power and beauty.

Fire and Hemlock

Diana Wynne Jones, 2012

The wonderful thing about fairy tale retellings is that two authors, given the same story, will come up with equally brilliant but utterly different new versions. Diana Wynne Jones’ take on Tam Lin combines music, memory, and secrets. Polly realizes that there seem to be two versions of her life, one of which she’s forgotten, perhaps for good reason. It’s an ambitious, sometimes baffling, and thought-provoking book.