As long as there have been people, there have been stories. From ancient beings to epic love affairs, some myths and legends from around the world keep being retold over and over again, and it's easy to see why. Featuring great characters, essential lessons, and plenty of drama, these stories from Ancient Greece to China and beyond are full of appeal.
Below, we have rounded up some of the best books that retell, recast, or reimagine stories from mythology and legend.
7 of the best myth retellings
The story of the fall of Troy is well known, and can be summed up as "awful men using a minor slight to launch a war". But what about the women of the story? Pat Barker's The Silence of the Girls shoves the men to one side and takes a look at the women of the war – Briseis, the woman given to Achilles as a prize, Priam’s wife Hecuba, Hector’s wife Andromache, and more – in what The Guardian Iliad ".
Singer and activist Willow Smith and writer Jess Hendel upend everything you know about the Vikings with Black Shield Maiden , the story of Yafeu, a defiant Ghanaian warrior forced into slavery. In her new home, she finds a kindred spirit in the shy princess Freydis. Both want to forge their own futures, and for Yafeu, that means becoming a shield maiden.
Drawing on African and Viking mythologies, this is the story of women determined to find their own way.
Set in Ancient Assyria, Babylonia is the story of orphan Semiramis, who grows up on the outskirts of a brutal empire, the heir to a tragic prophecy. When she arrives in the city, she soon becomes embroiled in a savage love affair with warrior Onnes and king Ninus, while also facing rising threats.
Filled with political intrigue, passion and plenty of action, Babylonia – the second novel by Costanza Casati, after her retelling of the Greek myth of Clytemnestra – is a great introduction to an often-ignored mythology.
Drawing on elements of Russian mythology and folklore, The Bear and the Nightingale tells the story of Vasya, a young and wild child who lives in a village at the edge of a forest. For her, the tales of the Winter King and old magic are more than just stories: she can see the spirits that guard her home and sense the dark magic in the woods. Enchanting and a little spooky, The Bear and the Nightingale will introduce you to myths and monsters that will ignite your imagination.
Greek mythology’s Medea has nearly always been framed as a villain, and for good reason: she murdered her children after being betrayed by the hero Jason. In her feminist retelling, Rosie Hewlett offers a look at Medea’s life and what led her to such a devastating act, along the way forcing us to reexamine what it is we mean by the word “hero”.
Medea is Hewlett’s second Greek myth retelling, following her debut Medusa . If you have an appetite for feminist retellings of Greek myths, then also add Jennifer Saint’s novels Ariadne and Hera to your to-read list.
In Mythos , Stephen Fry takes famous and lesser-known tales from Greek myths and tells them in his own inimitable fashion. Magic and mayhem are central to these tales, which focus on the Greek gods and goddesses and their (mostly) bad behaviour.
From the birth of Athena to Pandora opening the jar or evil torments, Mythos is told with great humour and a wink or two. It is the first book in Fry’s bestselling series of retellings. His final book in the series, Odyssey
Bernard Cornwell's retelling of Arthurian legend shows Arthur, Merlin, and Guinevere as you've never seen them before.
In the Dark Ages, Uther, the High King of Britain has died and left his son, the infant Mordred, as his heir. The country's lesser kings are seeking to claim the crown for themselves, but no one has counted on the fearsome warlord Arthur. Handed power by Merlin and pursuing a doomed romance with the beautiful Guinevere, Arthur's destiny is to unite the country and hold back the Saxon enemy at the gate.
