For many of us, beloved classics can be read and reread many times over. We pull them off the shelf and say, "Hello, old friend." Even if you love the books and the characters exactly how they are, it can be fun to view them through a new, contemporary lens. Retelling the classics is a popular genre unto itself (especially Pride and Prejudice!) and experiencing the stories again with modern updates—often including new cultural settings—may be the closest you'll get to reading your favorite book for the first time.

Below is a list of contemporary retellings of classic novels—much of Jane Austen's oeuvre, Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables, Alice in Wonderland,  Little Women, and more—available in NYPL's collection. Enjoy these riffs, reinterpretations, and reimaginings!

Anne of Manhattan by Brina Starler

Leaving Avonlea, Long Island, to attend grad school in Manhattan, Anne is shocked when her long-time archrival, Gilbert, returns from California to attend as well in this modern adaptation of the beloved Anne of Green Gables.

 

 

 

 

Pride by Ibi Zoboi (YA)

After the wealthy Darcy family moves in across the street, Zuri is forced to find common ground with Darius, while struggling with her four wild sisters, a handsome boy vying for her attention, and college applications.

 

 

 

 

Meg & Jo by Virginia Kantra

When their mother falls ill, the March sisters—reliable Meg, independent Jo, stylish Amy and shy Beth, return home to North Carolina for the holidays where they’ll rediscover what really matters.

See also: Beth & Amy by Virginia Kantra

 

 

 

Jane by Aline Brosh McKenna (graphic novel)

A powerful modern day reimagining of Charlotte Brontë's classic novel Jane Eyre. Jane learns that in the world of New York's elite, secrets are the greatest extravagance and she must decide if she should trust the man she loves or do whatever it takes to protect her best friend from the consequences of his deception

 

 

 

Where the Rhythm Takes You by Sarah Dass (YA)

Inspired by Jane Austen's Persuasion, Where the Rhythm Takes You is a romantic, mesmerizing novel of first love and second chances, all to the tunes of sweet soca music.

 

 

 

 

 

The Spring Girls by Anna Todd

The four Spring girls, Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, grow and struggle to find their places in the world on the New Orleans military base they call home, while their father is on tour in Iraq and their mother appears to be hiding something.

 

 

 

 

Anna K: A Love Story by Jenny Lee (YA)

Told from multiple viewpoints, while seventeen-year-old Anna K seems above the typical problems of her Manhattan friends and siblings, finding love with a notorious playboy changes everything.

See also the sequel: Anna K Away 

 

 

 

A Blade So Black by L.L. McKinney (YA)

This isn't the Wonderland you remember. By day, Alice juggles a slipping GPA, a high-maintenance best friend, and an overprotective mom, but by night she heads to the dark realm known as Wonderland to battle monstrous creatures to save her mentor.

See also: 8 YA Retellings of Alice in Wonderland

 

 

 

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins

Supplementing her modest income by stealing small valuables from her gated-community clients, a broke dog-walker endeavors to win the heart of a wealthy bachelor before learning his late wife’s own rags-to-riches story.

 

 

 

 

Ladies of the House by Lauren Edmondson

After her father’s involvement in a public scandal, Daisy must navigate the sale of the family home, her sister’s inconvenient crush and her best friend writing an expose in a modern retelling of Jane Austen’s classic Sense and Sensibility.

 

 

 

 

Ayesha at Last by Uzma Jalaluddin

A modern Muslim adaptation of Pride and Prejudice finds a reluctant teacher who would avoid an arranged marriage setting aside her literary ambitions before falling in love with her perpetually single cousin's infuriatingly conservative fiancé.

 

 

 

 

Great by Sara Benincasa

In this contemporary retelling of The Great Gatsby, seventeen-year-old Naomi Rye becomes entangled in the drama of a Hamptons social circle and a tragedy that shakes the summer community.

 

 

 

 

Northanger Abbey by Val McDermid

A modern retelling of Jane Austen's classic novel finds bookish minister's daughter Cat Morland joining her well-to-do friends in Edinburgh and falling for an up-and-coming lawyer who may harbor unsettling secrets.

Other books in The Austen Project: Emma by Alexander McCall Smith; Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld; Sense & Sensibility by Joanna Trollope

 

 

 

Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye

Suffering at the hands of cruel family members and brutal school administrators, sensitive orphan Jane Steele murderously retaliates against her abusers and takes a job as a governess working with mysterious servants while falling in love with her employer, in a serial-killer reimagining of Jane Eyre.

 

 

 

Pride, Prejudice, and Other Flavors by Sonali Dev

Acclaimed neurosurgeon, Dr. Trisha Raje, clashes with the new chef, DJ Caine, over pedigree, pride, and arrogance, but must find a common ground to save DJs sister.

See also: Sonali Dev's adaptation of two other Austen novels: Recipe for Persuasion and Incense and Sensibility 

 

 

 

The One That Got Away by Melissa Pimentel

A modern retelling of Jane Austen's "Persuasion" follows the experiences of Manhattan career woman Ruby, who journeys to England to help with her younger sister's wedding before reconnecting with the ex she gave up a decade earlier.

 

 

 

 

By the Book by Julia Sonneborn

An English professor fighting for tenure discovers that her first love and her ex-fiancâe has just become the college's new president--and her new boss--in a modern retelling of Jane Austen's classic Persuasion.

 

 

 

 

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal

A retelling of Pride and Prejudice, set in modern-day Pakistan, finds a practical-minded teacher from a family of sisters evaluating her resolve never to marry after encountering a brusque but compelling man during a series of lavish wedding parties.

 

 

 

The Code for Love and Heartbreak by Jillian Cantor

In this retelling of Jane Austen's Emma, there's nothing more complex—or unpredictable—than love. When math genius Emma and her coding club co-president, George, are tasked with brainstorming a new project, The Code for Love is born. George disapproves of Emma's idea of creating a matchmaking app, but all the happy new couples at school are proof that it works. At least at first.

 

 

Ordinary Girls by Blair Thornburgh

For siblings as different as Plum and Ginny, getting on each other's nerves is par for the course. But when the family's finances hit a snag, sending chaos through the house in a way only characters from a Jane Austen novel could understand, a distance grows between them like never before.

 

 

 

 

Jane Austen in Boca by Paula Marantz Cohen

A witty send-up of Pride and Prejudice set in a Florida retirement village follows a circle of retirees on a hilarious voyage of love and manners.

 

 

 

 

 

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Have trouble reading standard print? Many of these titles are available in formats for patrons with print disabilities.

Summaries provided via NYPL’s catalog, which draws from multiple sources. Click through to each book’s title for more.