Book picks similar to
A Modern Cinderella Or, The Little Old Shoe and Other Stories by Louisa May Alcott
classics
fairy-tales
short-stories
fiction
Beauty and the Beast
Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont - 1756
This is the best known version of the original story that inspired Walt Disney’s classic and has been retold countless times and adapted for screen, stage, prose, and television.
Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: A New English Version
Philip Pullman - 2012
Now, at a veritable fairy-tale moment—witness the popular television shows Grimm and Once Upon a Time and this year’s two movie adaptations of “Snow White”—Philip Pullman, one of the most popular authors of our time, makes us fall in love all over again with the immortal tales of the Brothers Grimm.From much-loved stories like “Cinderella” and “Rumpelstiltskin,” “Rapunzel” and “Hansel and Gretel” to lesser-known treasures like “Briar-Rose,” “Thousandfurs,” and “The Girl with No Hands,” Pullman retells his fifty favorites, paying homage to the tales that inspired his unique creative vision—and that continue to cast their spell on the Western imagination.
Long Ago and Far Away: Six Fantasy Novels Inspired by Fairy Tales, Myths, Legends, Folklore, & Magic
Christine Pope - 2020
Rhianne Menyon has dreams of being a painter, but her world changes forever when a single moment of sacrifice brings her to Black's Keep as the Dragon's latest Bride. As she attempts to adjust to her new life - and to know something of the monster who is now her husband - she begins to see that the curse is far crueler than she first believed. Unraveling the mystery of what happened to the Dragon's Brides is only the beginning...Jennifer Blackstream - Before Midnight (Blood Prince #1)An alpha wolf fighting a powerful curse...The werewolf prince Etienne is turning into a human. A fierce and loyal pack, Etienne and his family have protected their kingdom with tooth and claw - literally - for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, the spell of a well-meaning witch is slowly stealing the beast from inside him. Only the bite of a cursed werewolf - one who was not born with the beast inside - can save him from losing everything. He has no time for anything that will not lead him to a cure for the curse. Not even the beautiful maiden whose gentle nature soothes his soul even as she tempts him into primal pursuits of an entirely different nature…A maiden enslaved by her stepfamily, who dares to reach for more...Loupe lives in terror. Terror of the bloodthirsty stepfamily who treats her like a slave, and terror of the beast trapped inside her. Bitten by a werewolf while dealing with the illegal gains of her step-family’s poaching, Loupe’s dreams of a strong husband who would take her away from her servant-like existence are over. A woman who becomes a mindless beast on the night of the full moon has no place in a marriage bed. Not even if that bed belongs to a prince with the manners of royalty and the hungry eyes of a wolf.Nothing will stand between an alpha wolf and his mate...A grand ball. The stroke of twelve. A magic “slipper.” All kinds of things can happen when you don’t leave the ball... Before Midnight.Laura Greenwood - Spindles And Spells (Grimm Academy #1)Briar doesn't believe in Once Upon A Time...Her whole life, Briar has been told about her fate, but she doesn't believe a word. Now she's forced to go to Grimm Academy along with all the other fairy tale characters trying to avoid their tales.When she finds a spindle in one of the tallest towers, she begins to believe, but is it already too late?Welcome to Grimm Academy, where fairy tale characters go to escape their foretold fate.Kat Parrish - Bride Of The Midnight King (Grimm Blood Tale #1)And the story begins with... once upon a timeThe land was called Eindar, and those who lived there called it “home,” but those who lived beyond its borders called it “The Divided Kingdom” because it was a place where humans and vampires shared the land but divided the day’s hours into sunlight and shadow, and there were only a few whose lives were lived in both realms.Eindar had once been ruled by a royal house of humans, but that era ended when the last human king - Lorant the Third - took a vampire wife and died, leaving the kingdom in her care. Queen Isix abdicated in favor of her son Adraxus, and the sons of his line had occupied the throne of the Shadow Palace ever since.By custom, the vampire kings choose human consorts to rule by their side. A king chose his consort for any number of reasons, but rarely was love involved. Or so it was until the last consort of King Idrax died, leaving behind a most unusual bequest. Lady Judita’s final gift to the kingdom and the king she’d loved was a complete surprise, and it changed… everything.Jenna Elizabeth Johnson - Faeborne (Otherworld #9)Brennon Roarke is cursed. Stolen from his family at the age of sixteen and forced to use his glamour in the service of Eilé’s most malevolent goddess, Brenn has little room for warmth in his heart. For seven long years, he endured hardship and pain, only to escape and find his parents and sister murdered, his nephew left blind and broken. With the stain of dark magic on his soul, Brennon perseveres for the sake of his young ward, always worrying that one day the evil infecting his spirit will destroy him for good.Seren is an outcast among her own kind, ridiculed and ostracized by all but her mother. Born to the Fahndí tribe of the Weald, Seren’s glamour allows her to transform into a deer, but it also grants her the power to heal grave wounds. When she reveals this gift to her peers, jealousy and hatred drive them to murder, forcing Seren to either flee or fall victim to their malice. Taking on her animal form, Seren leaves her old life behind hoping to find a safe haven in a world that has only ever offered her hardship.Despite being worlds apart, Seren and Brennon are brought together in a single life-altering moment. When the doe Brenn shoots turns into a young woman before his very eyes, he has no choice but to bring her home with the hope that she’ll recover. What he doesn’t realize, however, is that Seren is quite capable of healing herself with glamour that may be able to cure his wounds as well, and not only the ones that run skin deep.Julia Crane - Down The Rabbit HoleDown the Rabbit hole is a twisted tale of two sisters bound by blood and separated by magick.Alice is not the lovable girl the stories depict. A lifetime of pain and illusion has left her disturbed. Unpredictable. Dangerous.For years, she’s watched her twin sister - a girl born into light and destined for power – with great envy. According to the prophecy, only one of them will rule. Only one of them will survive.What will Alice sacrifice? The sister she hates, the man she loves, or the innocent lives caught in her twisted web of magick?
The Green-Eyed Prince
Brittany Fichter - 2017
Kartek's healing jewel has been lost. Her only hope of saving her kingdom seems to lie in the hands of the green-eyed stranger who claims he can save her jewel and her people...but the price is steep, and the young queen doesn't have much time.In this novella retelling of The Frog Prince, seventeen-year-old Queen Kartek has resigned herself to marrying the greatest warrior in the Megal Desert, but her true joy lies in sharing her healing powers with her people and meeting the everyday needs of her kingdom. When an enchantress attacks, however, her betrothed is murdered, and danger camps outside Hedjet's gates, Kartek's world is turned upside down.To make matters worse, her healing jewel falls into an abandoned well just when she needs it the most, and her only hope of retrieving the jewel lies in marrying a green-eyed stranger and making him king.In this retelling of The Frog Prince, Kartek must choose whether to trust that her new husband's intentions are as honorable as he promises, or to try and defeat the enchantress alone. For as much as she resents her new husband, she quickly realizes that there is more to this quiet man than meets the eye. He might just be the miracle her kingdom needs...and the balm she craves for her lonely heart.
Once Upon a Happy Ending: An Anthology of Reimagined Fairy Tales
Ella SummersBrittany Fichter - 2016
Buy Once Upon a Happy Ending to start the timeless anthology today!
Note:The current available edition only contains 13 Stories from 14 different authors.
The Arabian Nights
Anonymous
Cerf chose the most famous and representative stories from Sir Richard F. Burton's multivolume translation, and includes Burton's extensive and acclaimed explanatory notes. The tales of told by Shahrazad over a thousand and one nights to delay her execution by the vengeful King Shahriyar have become among the most popular in both Eastern and Western literature, as recounted by Sir Francis Burton. From the epic adventures of "Aladdin and the Enchanted Lamp" to the farcical "Young Woman and her Five Lovers" and the social criticism of "The Tale of the Hunchback", the stories depict a fabulous world of all-powerful sorcerers, jinns imprisoned in bottles and enchanting princesses. But despite their imaginative extravagance, the Tales are anchored to everyday life by their realism, providing a full and intimate record of medieval Islam.'
Because You Love to Hate Me: 13 Tales of Villainy
AmerieSamantha Shannon - 2017
No fairy tale will ever seem quite the same again!Featuring writing from . . .Authors: Renée Ahdieh, Ameriie, Soman Chainani, Susan Dennard, Sarah Enni, Marissa Meyer, Cindy Pon, Victoria Schwab, Samantha Shannon, Adam Silvera, Andrew Smith, April Genevieve Tucholke, and Nicola YoonBookTubers: Benjamin Alderson (Benjaminoftomes), Sasha Alsberg (abookutopia), Whitney Atkinson (WhittyNovels), Tina Burke (ChristinaReadsYA blog and TheLushables), Catriona Feeney (LittleBookOwl), Jesse George (JessetheReader), Zoë Herdt (readbyzoe), Samantha Lane (Thoughts on Tomes), Sophia Lee (thebookbasement), Raeleen Lemay (padfootandprongs07), Regan Perusse (PeruseProject), Christine Riccio (polandbananasBOOKS), and Steph Sinclair & Kat Kennedy (Cuddlebuggery blog and channel).
Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales
Melissa MarrCharles Vess - 2013
From Sir Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queene" to E. M. Forster's "The Machine Stops", literature is filled with sexy, deadly, and downright twisted tales. In this collection, today's most acclaimed award-winning and bestselling authors reimagine their favorite classic stories and use their own unique styles to rebuild these timeless stories, the ones that have inspired, awed, and enraged them, the ones that have become ingrained in modern culture, and the ones that have been too long overlooked. They take these twelve stories and boil them down to their bones, and reassemble them for a new generation of readers. Written from a twenty-first century perspective and set within the realms of science fiction, dystopian fiction, fantasy, and realistic fiction, these short stories are as moving and thought provoking as their originators. They pay homage to groundbreaking literary achievements of the past while celebrating each author's unique perception and innovative style.Contents:Introduction: Rags & Bones: New Twists on Timeless Tales (2013) • essay by Tim Pratt and Melissa MarrThat the Machine May Progress Eternally (2013) / shortfiction by Carrie Ryan, inspired by E.M. Forster's The Machine StopsThe King of Elfland's Daughter (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessLosing Her Divinity [Sir Hereward and Mister Fitz] (2013) / shortfiction by Garth Nix, inspired by The Man Who Would Be KingThe Sleeper and the Spindle (2013) / novelette by Neil Gaiman, inspired by Sleeping BeautyKai Lung's Golden Hours (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessThe Cold Corner (2013) / shortfiction by Tim Pratt, inspired by Henry James' The Jolly CornerMillcara (2013) / shortfiction by Holly Black, inspired by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's CarmillaFigures of Earth (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessWhen First We Were Gods (2013) / shortfiction by Rick Yancey, inspired by Nathaniel Hawthorne's The BirthmarkSirocco (2013) / shortfiction by Margaret Stohl, inspired by Horace Walpole's The Castle of OtrantoThe Shaving of Shagpat (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessAwakened (2013) / shortfiction by Melissa Marr, inspired by Kate Chopin's The AwakeningNew Chicago (2013) / shortfiction by Kelley Armstrong, inspired by W. W. Jacob's The Monkey's PawThe Wood Beyond the World (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessThe Soul Collector (2013) / shortfiction by Kami Garcia, inspired by the Brothers Grimm's RumpelstiltskinWithout Faith, Without Law, Without Joy (2013) / shortfiction by Saladin Ahmed, inspired by Sir Edmund Spenser's Faerie QueeneGoblin Market (2013) • interior artwork by Charles VessUncaged (2013) / shortfiction by Gene Wolf, inspired by William Seabrook's The Caged White Werewolf..
The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories
Angela Carter - 1979
K. Rowling, Kelly Link, and other contemporary masters of supernatural fiction. In her masterpiece, The Bloody Chamber—which includes the story that is the basis of Neil Jordan’s 1984 movie The Company of Wolves—she spins subversively dark and sensual versions of familiar fairy tales and legends like “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Bluebeard,” “Puss in Boots,” and “Beauty and the Beast,” giving them exhilarating new life in a style steeped in the romantic trappings of the gothic tradition.
Grimm's Fairy Stories
Jacob Grimm - 1812
Contains stories such as "The Goose Girl", "Hansel and Grethel", "Cinderella", "The Golden Goose", "The Frog Prince" and many more.
Deathless
Catherynne M. Valente - 2011
But Koschei has never before been seen through the eyes of Catherynne Valente, whose modernized and transformed take on the legend brings the action to modern times, spanning many of the great developments of Russian history in the twentieth century.Deathless, however, is no dry, historical tome: it lights up like fire as the young Marya Morevna transforms from a clever child of the revolution, to Koschei’s beautiful bride, to his eventual undoing. Along the way there are Stalinist house elves, magical quests, secrecy and bureaucracy, and games of lust and power. All told, Deathless is a collision of magical history and actual history, of revolution and mythology, of love and death, which will bring Russian myth back to life in a stunning new incarnation.
Grim
Christine JohnsonShaun David Hutchinson - 2014
Inspired by classic fairy tales, but with a dark and sinister twist, Grim contains short stories from some of the best voices in young adult literature today: Ellen Hopkins Amanda Hocking Julie Kagawa Claudia Gray Rachel Hawkins Kimberly Derting Myra McEntire Malinda Lo Sarah Rees-Brennan Jackson Pearce Christine Johnson Jeri Smith Ready Shaun David Hutchinson Saundra Mitchell Sonia Gensler Tessa Gratton Jon Skrovon
The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood
Howard Pyle - 1883
Consisting of a series of episodes in the story of the English outlaw Robin Hood and his band of Merry Men, the novel compiles traditional material into a coherent narrative in a colorful, invented "old English" idiom that preserves some flavor of the ballads, and adapts it for children. The novel is notable for taking the subject of Robin Hood, which had been increasingly popular through the 19th century, in a new direction that influenced later writers, artists, and filmmakers through the next century.[1]Pyle had been submitting illustrated poems and fairy tales to New York publications since 1876, and had met with success. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood was the first novel he attempted. He took his material from Middle Age ballads and wove them into a cohesive story, altering them for coherence and the tastes of his child audience. For example, he included "Robin Hood and the Curtal Friar" in the narrative order to reintroduce Friar Tuck. He needed a cooperative priest for the wedding of outlaw Allan a Dale (Pyle's spelling of the original Alan-a-Dale) to his sweetheart Ellen. In the original "A Gest of Robyn Hode", the life is saved of an anonymous wrestler who had won a bout but was likely to be murdered because he was a stranger. Pyle adapted it and gave the wrestler the identity of David of Doncaster, one of Robin's band in the story "Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow." In his novelistic treatment of the tales, Pyle thus developed several characters who had been mentioned in only one ballad, such as David of Doncaster or Arthur a Bland. Pyle's book continued the 19th-century trend of portraying Robin Hood as a heroic outlaw who robs the rich to feed the poor; this portrayal contrasts with the Robin Hood of the ballads, where the protagonist is an out-and-out crook, whose crimes are motivated by personal gain rather than politics or a desire to help others.[1] For instance, he modified the ballad "Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham", changing it from Robin killing fourteen foresters for not honoring a bet to Robin defending himself against a band of armed robbers. Pyle has Robin kill only one man, who shoots at him first. Tales are changed in which Robin steals all that an ambushed traveler carried, such as "Robin Hood and the Bishop of Hereford", so that the victim keeps a third and another third is dedicated to the poor. Pyle did not have much concern for historical accuracy, but he renamed the queen-consort in the story "Robin Hood and Queen Katherine" as Eleanor (of Aquitaine). This made her compatible historically with King Richard the Lion-Hearted, with whom Robin eventually makes peace. The novel was first published by Scribner's in 1883, and met with immediate success,[1] ushering in a new era of Robin Hood stories. It helped solidify the image of a heroic Robin Hood, which had begun in earlier works such as Walter Scott's 1819 novel Ivanhoe. In Pyle's wake, Robin Hood has become a staunch philanthropist protecting innocents against increasingly aggressive villains.[1] Along with the publication of the Child Ballads by Francis James Child, which included most of the surviving Robin Hood ballads, Pyle's novel helped increase the popularity of the Robin Hood legend in the United States. The Merry Adventures also had an effect on subsequent children's literature. It helped move the Robin Hood legend out of the realm of penny dreadfuls and into the realm of respected children's books.[2] After Pyle, Robin Hood became an increasingly popular subject for children's books: Louis Rhead's Bold Robin Hood and His Outlaw Band (1912) and Paul Creswick's Robin Hood (1917), illustrated by Pyle's pupil N. C.
Japanese Fairy Tales
Yei Theodora Ozaki - 1903
Some are "Momotaro, "The Son of a Peach", "The Jellyfish and the Monkey", "The Mirror of Matsuyama", "The Bamboo Cutter and the Moon Child", "The Stones of Five Colors and the Empress Jokwa."
Fairytales for Wilde Girls
Allyse Near - 2013
That's not unusual. Isola Wilde sees a lot of things other people don't. But when the girl appears at Isola's window, her every word a threat, Isola needs help.Her real-life friends – Grape, James and new boy Edgar – make her forget for a while. And her brother-princes – the mermaids, faeries and magical creatures seemingly lifted from the pages of the French fairytales Isola idolises – will protect her with all the fierce love they possess.It may not be enough.Isola needs to uncover the truth behind the dead girl's demise and appease her enraged spirit, before the ghost steals Isola's last breath.