While You Wait for James

Percival Everett’s novel James takes us back into Mark Twain’s classic story The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Although this retelling of the classic adheres to the major plot points of the original story, you will have a new experience as the story unfolds from the perspective of Jim, a Black man running from enslavement during the Antebellum Period of America. 

After learning he is set to be sold, James, also known as Jim, decides he must escape captivity to avoid being separated from his wife and daughter forever. Huckleberry discovers James settling temporarily on Jackson Island and so begins the story of James and Huck’s journey down the Mississippi River. In this version of the story you see James in a new light as his agency and intelligence are revealed. Huck is the one tagging along as James leads this journey.

While you wait to read a copy of James check out other stories that put a new spin on or take inspiration from well-known and well-loved classics.  

The Other Bennet Sister by Janice Hadlow 

What if Mary Bennet, the bookish middle Bennet daughter, took a different path than the one presented in Pride and Prejudice? The Other Bennet Sister explores that possibility, shaping Mary into a woman who becomes certain of her choices.  

In this book the Pride and Prejudice story is presented from Mary’s point of view before moving through Mary’s struggle to find herself. Years later, after being turned away by Charlotte following a visit to her and Mr. Collins, Mary finds refuge with her aunt and uncle who welcome her into their home.

Her aunt, Mrs. Hill, embraces Mary and is determined to help her overcome the psychic damage brought on by Mary’s mother, Mrs. Bennet, who never much cared for her middle daughter. As Mary begins to find herself, her latest challenge arises in the form of two potential suitors vying for her attention.  

Written in the spirit of Austen, Mary’s story of transformation falls in line with the transformations of her elder sisters, though with several more roadblocks along the way. 

One by One by Ruth Ware 

A team from Snoop, a new tech start-up, is headed to the French Alps for a week-long trip. The agenda lists bonding exercises, presentations and sessions to strategize forward movement in the company. Unfortunately, an avalanche entraps the team, cutting off their access to the world outside the chalet high in the French Alps. 

With tensions already on the rise, panic ensues alongside fear that rescue is outside their reach. Then one by one, the group's head count begins to dwindle, leaving the remaining team members in even more heightened states of tension.  

This suspenseful tale takes inspiration from Agatha Christie's  And Then There Were None. You will be up late reading and trying to figure out who to trust. 

“Ware does what she does best: Gives us a familiar locked-door mystery setup and lets the tension and suspicion marinate until they reach fever pitch. Another win for Ware. . . . Simply masterful.” — Kirkus Reviews
 

Hunted by Meagan Spooner 

There are numerous adaptations of Beauty and the Beast, but Spooner’s novel takes the tale in a new direction creating a story you don’t want to miss.  

Yeva, a beautiful daughter of an aristocratic family, longs for more than the wealthy lifestyle she’s been given. In a turn of fate, her father's fortune is lost forcing her family to move to the outskirts of town, which is much closer to the forest she wants to explore. 

Yeva’s father has a connection to the wild forest and the darkness of it soon pulls him in. When he doesn’t return from the forest one day, she sets out to find him and the Beast she is certain took her father.  

Despite knowing how to hunt and being armed with her bow and arrows, Yeva is soon entrapped by the Beast and her fight for survival begins. However, maybe there’s more to the Beast than Yeva knows, and perhaps the pair have more in common than she originally thought. 

“Haunting and graceful, with an edge that draws blood when you least expect it, Hunted is a masterpiece. Spooner deftly weaves together fairytale with fantasy, bringing to life an immersive, unforgettable world, a heart-wrenching romance, and a badass heroine.” — Amie Kaufman, New York Times bestselling author of Illuminae and The Starbound Trilogy

After Oz by Gordon McAlpine

It’s Kansas 1896 and the young Dorothy Gale is missing following a tornado that destroys the family farm. Four days later, with the Gale’s scared to their wits end, Dorothy shows up unharmed.  

The Gale family and townsfolk are shaken once again as Dorothy recounts her adventures to a fantastical land with magical residents. When Dorothy speaks of the witch she accidentally killed, who bears a suspiciously similar description to a local spinster recently found murdered, the town erupts into panic.  

Dorothy, now believed to be the spinster's murderer, is sent to an asylum. Psychologist Evelyn Wilford’s heads back to Dorothy’s hometown to try and uncover the truth of what really happened.  

This novel that turns the classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz into a murder mystery is sure to grab your attention from the very beginning and keep you turning page after page. 

Happy reading!