Fairy Tale Adaptations Are Having a Moment — Is Your Childhood Favorite One of Them? (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

The best fairy tale adaptations.

The wordsOnce Upon a Timehave always carried magic for me. Growing up, my copy ofGrimm’s Fairy Taleswas so well-loved that its pages were breaking away from its spine. Most of my summers were spent at our neighborhood pool, convinced that if I stayed in the water long enough, I’d be transformed into a character fromThe Little Mermaid.

I never became a mermaid (spoiler), but the spell these tales cast over me never broke. In fact, the more I immersed myself in those stories, the stronger my desire for them became. Luckily for me, there’s no shortage of fairy tale adaptations. I scoured my local library, discovering everything fromShelley Duvall’sFaerie Tale Theatretelevision series toGregory Maguire’s novels.

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The concept of a retelling isn’t unique. These tales have a long history of being told around hearth fires, bedsides and kitchens, each version differing slightly based on the teller. In a way, it’s like the stories themselves are living beings, drawing new life with every generation.

As an author, (my bookThe Crimson Crowncomes out Aug. 27), the reimagining of a well-known tale appealed to me because it offered an opportunity to hold up a mirror to an aspect of our world — or ourselves — that hasn’t been seen before. And because I’m just as obsessed with fairy tales today as when I was a young mermaid-hopeful, here are five books offering fresh takes on the stories wethinkwe know.

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What I appreciated most about this book was that Chokshi wasn’t afraid to celebrate the dark spirit of the original tale. The author’s haunting prose and transportive story stayed with me forweeksafter I finished the story. Every character is nuanced, every relationship humming with tension — which only builds until the book’s epic and terrifying conclusion.

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But being the first (and only) plus-sized contestant on the show isn’t easy — and neither is finding out that Cindy has history with the show’s “Prince Charming.” As the contest, very literally, heats up, Cindy must find a way to be her own fairy godmother.

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While some books on this list are focused on one story, Gina Chen’s YA debut is a masterful mashup of elements from many.

Violet serves as her kingdom’s prophet, a coveted position that provides Violet a comfortable life, save for one caveat: she has zero talent for divination. Most of Violet’s sought-after predictions are fabrications invented to appease her rich and annoying patrons. But when the king asks her to deliberately falsify a prophecy regarding his son’s marriage — a prince Violet also happens to harbor highly inconvenient feelings for (when she isn’t insisting that she loathes him) — things get complicated. After she accidentally awakens a curse that puts the kingdom’s fate on the line, Violet must choose between her own feelings or her desire for power.

With its morally-gray anti-heroine, steamy angst and whiplash twists,Violet Made of Thornspacks a punch. I adored the footprints of various fairy tales sprinkled throughout, but what I loved most about Chen’s book is that rather than being the damsel in distress, Violet herselfcausesthe distress and is utterly unapologetic about the mess she leaves behind.

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I learned from a young age that villains arefarmore interesting than their heroic counterparts. They’re usually much more complex, funnier and infinitely better dressed. Unfortunately, we often only glimpse a tiny sliver of a villain’s inner character, leaving us to wonder — who are they? How did they become so deliciously wicked?

McMyne’sBook of Gothelseeks to answer exactly those questions for the villainess inRapunzel. The novel is the story of Haelewise, a young woman living in Germany during the 12th century. With her otherworldly black eyes, strange fainting spells and family history, Haelewise is a pariah in her superstitious village. When her mother dies and her father abandons her, she’s forced to flee the townsfolk’s looming pitchforks, eventually winding up in the Tower of Gothel. There, she studies under the tutelage of a witchy wise woman who promises Haelewise a new life filled with power. But as secrets about the old woman come to light, Haelewise finds herself squarely in the sights of an evil prince. If she’s going to survive, Haelewise must learn to trust her own power — no matter the cost.

What I loved most about McMyne’s novel was how deftly she wove Haelewise’s story into real history, making her feel like an actual person. More impressively, I found myself rooting for her even though I knew that Haelewise turned into the rapunzel-hoarding witch in the end.

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Rather than being an overt retelling, Harrow’sStarling Houseweaves fairytale elements — specifically those ofBeauty and the Beast —into a modern gothic narrative.

The story features Opal, a young woman desperate to get out of the decaying and sinister town of Eden, Ky. When a lucrative job opportunity presents itself, Opal feels she has no choice but to accept it, even if it is working for Arthur, the last brooding heir to the mysterious Starling House. Though they initially clash, the two slowly form an unlikely friendship. And as Opal and Arthur’s relationship starts to blossom into something more, the secrets of Starling House — and Arthur’s dark past — begin to emerge. Opal is forced to decide what she’s willing to pay for the home and family she’s always wanted.

source: people.com