Fairytale, Myths & Legends Re-Tellings

I love a good re-telling novel and I have quite a lot of them. The ones I read most often are Greek myths retellings and I have a ton of those on my shelf.

I love them so much my old boss gave me a book of Greek Myths from Folio Society as my leaving present. It’s not quite a ‘retelling’ but I love that book so I’m sharing it!

Anyway, here are some of my recommended fairytale, myth, and legend re-tellings.

The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

This is a fairly short retelling of the Odyssey from his wife Penelope’s perspective. Set between her life on earth and her life in hell, this is a political yet easy-read Greek myth retelling.

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Okay, so technically this is neither fairytale nor legend, but it’s a classic and is basically a fairytale so I’m including it! I have that power. Anyway, Dorothy Must Die is a series by Danielle Paige in which Amy Gumm is transported to Oz in a tornado and is recruited by the Wicked Witches to kill Dorothy who has turned pure evil since she showed up several years beforehand. A light-hearted, yet dark, YA re-telling which starts off really well but doesn’t end great. Oh well, I still recommend reading it.

Athena’s Champion by David Hair & Cath Mayo

I’m biased about this book because I helped to market and publicise it but I truly loved it! This is the first in a Greek Mythology series and it’s fantastic! Think of a literary re-telling of Odysseus’ early years. Loved it!

Cinder by Marissa Myer

I read this so long ago but I did enjoy it. I’m not a massive series fan so I never carried on with the Lunar Chronicles but this book was good and clever. Cinderella is bionic and she is treated unfairly because of that, but she has a secret that she must keep quiet to keep her life and save those around her. Maybe it’s worth re-reading?

Kissing the Witch by Emma Donoghue

This is a collection of short stories that focus on re-telling fairytales. I wasn’t enamoured with this book but it’s still a good collection of stories for fairytale fans.

Circe by Madeline Miller

Madeline Miller is the mistress of greek myth re-tellings. She’s taken a lesser-known character in Greek Mythology and mapped out her entire life and it’s wonderful. Circe was the first witch of the Greek world and kept herself to herself. This makes a goddess incredibly human. Thoroughly enjoyable, with an amazing writing style.

Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller

This is one of my favourite books of 2018 and I loved it slightly more than Circe. I read this whilst on holiday and it was one of my favourite portions of that holiday. An LGBT+ greek mythology re-telling, re-telling the story of Achilles and Patroclus. Loved it!

Some other books I’ll include that I haven’t read but heard good things about

• The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter
• A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J Maas
• Gingerbread by Helen Oyeyemi
• Bitter Greens by Kate Forsyth
• The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
• For the Most Beautiful by Emily Hauser
• House of Names by Colm Toibin
• The King Must Die by Mary Renault

I have quite a few of the above on my bookshelf and I can’t wait to get to them! Let me know if you have any fairytale or myth retellings on your to-be-read list.

Happy reading!

Twitter // Facebook // Pinterest // Bloglovin // Instagram // Waterstones // TikTok