Five Favourite Fairy-tale Retellings

For so many people, their first memories of stories will be the fairy tales read to them as a child. Now it’s time to return to stories of our youth, with the increasing number of retellings, reworkings and books inspired by favourite fairy tales. We’ve taken a look at just five of our favourites.

Splintered by A.G. Howard

This one isn’t exactly a retelling as a ‘what might happen next’. Alyssa Gardner is a descendent of Alice Liddell, the inspiration for Lewis Carrol’s famous Alice in Wonderland. But since then, all of the women in Alyssa’s family have descended into madness. Now her own mother is in a psychiatric institution and Alyssa fears she might be headed the same way.

In this story for young adults, the truth is much darker than the previous fiction. Alyssa finds herself dragged into a twisted and troubling Wonderland, where she could lose her life as well as her sanity. Just who can she really trust?

Ash by Malinda Lo

A retelling of Cinderella with an LGBT+ twist.

When Ash’s father dies, she is left at the mercy of her cruel stepmother. Her only comfort is in the fairy tales her mother used to tell her as a child and the dreams she has in which a member of the fairy court will take her away. When she meets a mysterious and dangerous fairy named Sidhean, it seems her wish is about to come true.

But at the same time, Ash meets Kaisa, the King’s huntress. Kaisa is giving Ash something she has never had before – a reason to stay in the human world. But will Sidhean give up his claim on Ash so easily?

The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and illustrated by Chris Riddell

A beautifully illustrated tale, taking the soon to be queen Snow White and placing her on an adventure to find and awaken a sleeping princess and rescue a kingdom.

The pictures in this book are truly magical and aid a fantastic story with a fiery and frustrated heroine desperate to have one last adventure before her wedding day.

The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

A whole series of fairy-tale retellings here! Starting with Cinder – a new version of Cinderella – Marissa Myer takes well-loved fairy tales and reworks them with a science fiction theme.

Cinder is both a highly talented mechanic, and a cyborg. Treated as a second-class citizen, she is hated by her step mother and blamed for her step sister’s illness. But when her path accidently crosses with that of Prince Kai, Cinder finds herself wrapped up in a forbidden attraction and an intergalactic battle.

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

Emma Donnoghue is perhaps best known as the author of bestselling novel, Room. But before that, she also turned her hand to penning dazzling short stories, and fairy tales in particular. 

Kissing the Witch is a collection of thirteen subtly interlocking fairy-tale retellings, each putting strong women at their core. Starting with a version of Cinderella where Cinder might be more drawn to her fairy Godmother than the handsome prince, the book moves on to a girl discovering the Beast in the castle is not so beastly after all, a version of Snow White finding peace with her stepmother, many other well-known stories made fresh and feminist along the way. This might just be our favourite!