Meanwhile... A List of Sequels, Prequels, and What Might Have Been
Some books engage our imagination so thoroughly that we want to know everything about all of the characters; we’re curious about Jim’s life before he met Huck Finn. These books help fill in some of the missing pieces and let us stay in the story for a little while longer. All of these titles are located in the Adult Fiction section of the Library unless otherwise noted.
- Aidan, Pamela. An Assembly Such As This. 2003.
- Find out what Mr. Darcy was thinking about the events in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The first of a trilogy.
- Atwood, Margaret. The Penelopiad. 2005.
Also available: CD, eAudiobook - While Odysseus was away sacking Troy and seducing sirens, his faithful Penelope had a life of her own.
- Bigsby, C.W.E. Hester. 1994.
- Hester Prynne’s life before The Scarlet Letter.
- Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Firebrand. 1987. (Adult Science Fiction BRA).
- Cassandra’s version of the story of the fall of Troy.
- Bradley, Marion Zimmer. The Mists of Avalon. 1982. (Adult Science Fiction BRA).
- The Arthurian tales from the point of view of Morgan le Fay.
- Brooks, Geraldine. March. 2005.
Also available: Large Type, CD - At the beginning of Little Women, Mr. March goes away to war. This is his story.
- Eisner, Will. Fagin the Jew. 2003. (Adult Graphic Novel-Teen 741.5973 EIS).
- This graphic novel imagines the life of Fagin, the captain of the pickpockets in Oliver Twist.
- Gardner, John. Grendel.
Also available: Large Type - Beowulf’s foe isn’t just a monster.
- Lee, Tanith. White as Snow. 2000. (Adult Science Fiction LEE).
- The Queen in the Snow White story wasn’t born evil.
- Lippincott, Robin. Mr. Dalloway. 1999.
- It’s June 28, 1927, and it’s Mr. Dalloway’s turn to throw a party.
- Maguire, Gregory. Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. 1995.
Also available: Large Type, CD, eBook - What were they up to before Dorothy came to Oz?
- Martin, Valerie. Mary Reilly. 1990.
- Dr. Jekyll’s servant relates his strange tale.
- Naslund, Sena Jeter. Ahab’s Wife. 1999.
Also available: eBook - Una lives her own life while her husband is hunting Moby Dick.
- Naslund, Sena Jeter. Sherlock in Love. 1993.
- Dr. Watson’s biography of the late, great, Sherlock Holmes.
- Randall, Alice. The Wind Done Gone. 2001.
- Scarlett O’Hara’s half sister describes her life as a slave and later as a free woman.
- Rawles, Nancy. My Jim. 2005.
- Her husband escaped slavery to make an epic journey down the Mississippi with Huck Finn; Sadie survived slavery and emancipation and tells her story to her granddaughter.
- Rhys, Jean. Wide Sargasso Sea. 1966.
- Jane Eyre’s predecessor, the first Mrs. Rochester, tells her story.
- Updike, John. Gertrude and Claudius. 2000.
- The lives of Queen Gertrude and King Claudius before Hamlet begins.
- Chevalier, Tracy. Girl with a Pearl Earring. 1999.
Also available: Large Type, CD - Vermeer’s servant becomes the subject of one of his most famous paintings.
- Conroy, Sarah Booth. Refinements of Love. 1993.
- A novel of Clover and Henry Adams.
- Cooperstein, Claire. Johanna. 1995.
- Vincent Van Gogh might have remained unknown and unappreciated if not for his sister-in-law Johanna.
- Diamant, Anita. The Red Tent. 1997.
Also available: Large Type - The Biblical Dina tells the heartbreaking story of her life, and the lives of the other silent women of the Book of Genesis.
- Forster, Margaret. Lady's Maid. 1990.
Also available: CD - Elizabeth Barrett's servant Wilson helps her mistress elope with Robert Browning.
- Truong, Monique. The Book of Salt. 2003.
- Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas’ Vietnamese cook had a life of his own while he worked for his Mesdames.
- Tully, James. The Crimes of Charlotte Bronte: The Secrets of a Mysterious Family. 1999.
- Martha Brown, the parsonage maid, believes that the Brontes were murdered.