Tuesday, June 04, 2019

Twelve top retellings of classic novels

Meg Donohue is the USA Today bestselling author of Every Wild Heart, Dog Crazy, All the Summer Girls, How to Eat a Cupcake, and the newly released You, Me, and the Sea. Her novels have been translated into Dutch, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Turkish. Donohue has an MFA from Columbia University and a BA from Dartmouth College. Born and raised in Philadelphia, she now lives in San Francisco with her husband, three young daughters, and dog.

At LitHub Donohue tagged her twelve favorite retellings of classic novels. One title on the list:
Margot Livesey, The Flight of Gemma Hardy

I know what you’re thinking: Another novel inspired by Jane Eyre? All I can say is the heart wants what the heart wants. The Flight of Gemma Hardy reworks the classic into a coming-of-age tale set in Scotland in the middle of the 20th century. Livesey imbues her Gemma with Jane’s plucky, independent spirit, but she also allows herself the freedom to play with the plot of Jane Eyre, turning her novel into more of an homage than a straight retelling.
Read about another entry on the list.

The Page 69 Test: The Flight of Gemma Hardy.

--Marshal Zeringue