Everyone has a favorite story. (We would be seriously concerned if you didn’t!)
Perhaps, every winter you go see a play of The Christmas Carol. Or find yourself frequently watching Pride & Prejudice on rainy days (the 2005 version of course) .
Maybe it’s a book that you re-read every year — a story that you can name just by the first line alone… Or a favorite fairytale that you can’t get enough of.
But perhaps you also find yourself wanting a story that is familiar and comforting… but new and fresh at the same time. Retellings are a great way to bring exciting twists and new perspectives on old favorites, while still keeping the heart of the story you know and love.
From Greek myths to English language classics, read on for audiobook recommendations of your favorite stories retold.
| Looking for even more retellings, reimaginings, & remixes? Check out our Ancient Tales to Future Realms: A Dive into Folklore and Religious Retellings in Sci-Fi and Fantasy blog post.
Dark Restraint
Written by Katee Robert, narrated by Zara Hampton-Brown and Alex Moorcock
A scorchingly hot modern retelling of Ariadne and her Minotaur.
Ariadne Vitalis is in trouble. She’s betrayed her father—and his dangerous benefactor—and now she’s left to rely on Olympus’ questionable mercy. But in this city, mercy comes with a price. For Ariadne, that means a sham marriage to Dionysus. She has no choice but to agree, even if there’s only one man she’s ever wanted—a man she fears just as much as she desires.
The Minotaur never had any illusions about Minos’s plans. He was willing to get his hands dirty as long as the old man kept his word—at the end of their bloody work, the Minotaur would be given Ariadne as a reward. She’s meant for him, and he intends to have her, no matter the cost.
Dark Restraint is the latest installment in New York Times bestselling author Katee Robert’s Dark Olympus series.
Beautiful Villain
Written by Rebecca Kenney, narrated by Ruby Cherise
A spicy, new adult romance retelling of The Great Gatsby… with vampires.
Daisy Finnegan is looking forward to summer, but when her cousin goes missing at an exclusive house party, she’s all too ready to confront the mysterious host… only to discover the wealthy recluse is Jay Gatsby, her childhood sweetheart.
She could never resist him, and it isn’t long before she’s tangled in a web of wealth, lies, and obsession culminating in a shocking act of violence.
It is only after Gatsby is shot through the heart – and survives – that Daisy discovers the truth of how he clawed his way up in the world: by selling the secret of immortality to the highest bidder. With her friend’s lives at stake, her new powers still volatile, and an unimaginable threat closing in, Daisy must decide between Gatsby or the monsters who would see him lost to her forever.
Summer After Summer
Written by Lauren Bailey, narrated by Megan Tusing
A contemporary retelling of Persuasion that fans of Emily Henry and Rebecca Serle will adore.
Olivia Taylor’s marriage is in a death spiral when she agrees to come home to the Hamptons to help her father and sisters pack up the family estate. After years of financial trouble, someone’s finally bailing them out with a huge offer to buy their beachfront property, although it means losing the home she grew up in, where her mother died, and where she first met Fred, the love of her life.
It’s been five years since Olivia and Fred’s last encounter and Olivia fears it was never meant to be. They’ve tried multiple times, but Olivia is now newly single, and she and Fred have changed.
This time, things will be different. Maybe, just maybe, the fifth time’s the charm.
Estella’s Revenge
Written by Barbara Havelocke, narrated by Rosie Akerman
You know Miss Havisham.
The world’s most famous jilted bride.
This is her daughter’s story.
Raised in the darkness of Satis House where the clocks never tick, the beautiful Estella is bred to hate men and to keep her heart cold as the grave.
She knows she doesn’t feel things quite like other people do but is this just the result of her strange upbringing?
As she watches the brutal treatment of women around her, hatred hardens into a core of vengeance, and when she finds herself married to the abusive Drummle, she is forced to make a deadly choice:
Should she embrace the darkness within her and exact her revenge?
A stunningly original, gripping Gothic retelling of Great Expectations, perfect for fans of Stacey Halls, Madeline Miller and Jessie Burton.
The Heir of Venus
Written by Laura Shepperson, narrated by Frances Butt
To the world, he’s a legend. To her, he’s a liar.
Lavinia never asked to be fought over. But now her childhood sweetheart has waged a war that threatens to destroy everything she holds dear, all because Lavinia’s father has promised her to somebody else–Aeneas.
Aeneas, rumored to be the son of Venus, is famed for his bravery, cunning, and his vision for a new great Empire. He is also secretive, slippery—and Lavinia wonders why he will never discuss the past he left behind.
So when a stranger arrives in the camp with stories about Aeneas that suggest he is not what he seems, Lavinia realizes she has to take her future, and that of her people, into her own hands.
With striking prose and an inquisitive eye cast back on mythology, The Heir of Venus is an impactful and relatable story of a fight for the truth that reimagines the story of Aeneas and the women once left at the fringes of his story, perfect for fans of Madeline Miller and Natalie Haynes.
| Want even more powerful feminist retellings of Greek mythology? Check out Laura Shepperson’s debut novel, Phaedra!
After Oz
Written by Gordon McAlpine, narrated by Maria Ru-djen
This gripping and emotionally riveting tale is a dark and timely retelling of The Wizard of Oz, where one little girl is forced to face head-on the prejudices of the Midwest in the late nineteenth century.
Kansas, 1896. After a tornado destroys the Gale family farm, eleven-year-old Dorothy goes missing. As the days pass, the Gales are increasingly terrified the worst has happened. But when the girl turns up unharmed four days later, the townsfolk breathe a sigh of relief. That is, until Dorothy herself relates her account of the events that took place during her disappearance.
In vivid detail, Dorothy describes a fantastical land and its magical inhabitants: a scarecrow, a tin man, a cowardly lion, a wizard, a witch. Her recollections are not only regarded as delusional but also as pagan and diabolical in nature, especially when the body of a local spinster is found matching Dorothy’s description of a witch she claims to have killed. Authorities find incriminating evidence tying Dorothy to the real murder, and they sentence Dorothy to the Topeka Insane Asylum.
When twenty-eight-year-old psychologist Dr. Evelyn Grace Wilford arrives at the asylum to interview Dorothy, she begins to wonder if Dorothy truly committed the crime, or if something unfathomable has really occurred.
In a small town full of insidious secrets, Evelyn sets out to save Dorothy from her terrible circumstances, but can’t help but fear whether something menacing may be lurking just out of sight.
Countess
Written by Suzan Palumbo, narrated by Chanté McCormick
A queer Caribbean anti-colonial Count of Monte Cristo set in space in which a betrayed captain seeks revenge on the interplanetary empire that subjugated her people for generations.
Virika Sameroo lives in colonized space under the Æerbot Empire, much like her ancestors before her in the British West Indies. After years of working hard to rise through the ranks of the empire’s merchant marine, she’s finally become first lieutenant on an interstellar cargo vessel.
When her captain dies under suspicious circumstances, Virika is arrested for murder and charged with treason despite her lifelong loyalty to the empire. Her conviction and subsequent imprisonment set her on a path of revenge, determined to take down the evil empire that wronged her, all while the fate of her people hangs in the balance.
