Fairy Tales and Jane Austen Variations

I have to confess, adult I may be, but I still love fairy tales! Who doesn’t enjoy a good Cinderella story, whether it’s a romantic comedy or a football team turning things around to win the Superbowl? Fairy tales appeal to some of our deepest longings—to be seen as beautiful even when we look or act beastly, to have a handsome prince rescue us from misery, to fit those small delicate shoes . . .

Fairy tales are also some of the earliest “variations” we hear as children. How many different versions of Cinderella were you read as a child? Did you read the one where she has to sort beads and the birds come to help her? Or the one where her stepsisters cut off parts of their feet to fit the shoes? Countries and cultures around the world all have their own versions of Cinderella that all put twists on the basic tale of a girl who is mistreated by her family, dresses up secretly to go to a ball, falls in love with a prince, but flees and leaves a shoe behind, which he must try on every girl in order to find her.

In some ways, Jane Austen’s stories like Pride and Prejudice are fairy tales of their own. After all, Elizabeth Bennet is impertinent and judgmental, yet a handsome and rich man falls in love with her and performs heroics to earn her devotion. Turning down two proposals could have left her a spinster, but instead, Elizabeth marries the man she loves and has her dreams come true. A fairy godmother couldn’t have arranged it better!

Fairy tales often appeal because the good are rewarded and the bad punished, satisfying our sense of justice. How often do we see readers beg for a good Caroline set-down? We love to see the characters struggle to do the right thing and to ultimately find joy in doing their duty, acting heroically, showing compassion, learning from their mistakes, and in other ways winning our hearts. Perhaps part of the appeal of Jane Austen’s story is that her characters win our hearts with their compassion, heroics, honor, and their willingness to grow and change.

The first JAFF book that I wrote—although it was not the first book I published—included seven different fairy tales! Beauty and Mr. Darcy starred each Bennet sister (and a few friends) in a separate fairy tale, including Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, The Little Mermaid, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Rapunzel, The Frog Prince, and Sleeping Beauty.

What you may not know is that another of my JAFF books was also based on a fairy tale!

A Disguise of the Worst Sort is based on the fairy tale The Goose Girl, in which a maid usurps the position of a princess on her way to marry a prince. The princess is left to be employed as a goose girl, the only job she can find when she reaches the kingdom where she was intended to marry a prince. Romance, of course, ensues. In my version of the story, Caroline Bingley uses a little magic to steal Elizabeth’s identity—along with her betrothed.

But I am not the only one to include fairy tales in my JAFF! What are some of your favorite JAFF books that are based on fairy tales? Bonus points for books based on a story other than Cinderella!