Do we have any Jane Eyre fans in the house? (I think I already know the answer to that question.) Well . . . happy day! Margot Livesey provides a modern take on the enduring classic in The Flight of Gemma Hardy. In her version, the isolated Orkney Islands stand in for the Yorkshire moors, and the story takes place during the 1950s and ’60s. The novel’s on sale tomorrow, but lucky for you—you can enter to win it today!
February 2012 issue of BookPage
An interview with Livesey about her sweeping saga was the cover story for the February issue of BookPage. During the conversation, Livesey explained that she sees her novel as an homage to the 19th-century tale, and that writing it felt “like writing back to Charlotte Brontë.”
Read more in the interview, and keep reading here to learn how you can win this extraordinary novel.
TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the name of your favorite classic story. Bonus points if you let us know how you would change it for a modern re-telling.
CONTEST DETAILS: One winner will be chosen by random.org from among entries received by 5 pm CST on Friday, January 27. The winner will receive The Flight of Gemma Hardy by Margot Livesey.
ETA: Congratulations to our winner, Kat! Her all-time favorite classic is Anne of Green Gables, and in a contemporary version, “Anne would break a keyboard over Gilbert’s head. Her studies would take place over the computer and she would communicate with Diana through text messages rather than with a window shade.” Kat also notes that she “would have difficulty setting it in modern time. That is an important part of the story’s charm.”
Thank you to all who entered! Contest is now closed.
DRACULA! In my re-telling he would have lived a long, healthy life with me!!
Oliver Twist, but I would tell the tale of today’s homeless street kids.
Jane Eyre! And what a great giveaway-I love Margot Livesey!
beauty and the beast
Jane Eyre is favorite and I’ve been looking forward to this book! Wouldn’t Thackeray’s Vanity Fair be interesting set in a modern American city, with the ongoing conflict in the Middle East in the background…
Wuthering Heights
My all-time favorite book is Jane Eyre, but my second is Wuthering Heights. Catherine should have chosen Heathcliff regardless of his status and never should have married Edgar, knowing she didn’t love him.
Jane Eyre is my favorite.
I love Wuthering Heights…and reread often.I’d change this to the Modern day South,Savannah with an old Mansion ,Old trees and many nook and crannies,of course near the water…maybe we can bring back Heathcliff and Cathy hand in hand , happy again together…
I love Jane Eyre. Can’t wait to read Gemma Hardy!
My ultimate favorite is Rebecca. Modern day version would be a woman whose life is fulfilled.
I love Jane Eyre so I’m looking forward to Ms. Livesey’s adaptation.
Jane Eyre remains my favorite. To update I’d take away the poor orphan storyline and have Jane be more like the homeless that we see today.
I think I’d enjoy the modern re-telling of Little Women. A mother raising four daughters while their military father is deployed….plenty of drama.
I’ll choose Sense and Sensibility(Jane Austen)I’d have NYC for big city part,and since they have beautiful country estates and smaller towns nearby,(with modern transportation)and the basic story would be adapted to this modern day…
“Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens is one of my all time favorites. Since he wrote two endings, it’s hard to think of a way to change it, except having one where Estelle wants to marry Pip and he refused to do so.
A Midsummer Night’s Dream! I’d set it in New Orleans during Mardi Gras
Can’t wait to read this!!!!
Romeo and Juliet – with a different ending obviously : )
It’s a tie between Jane Eyre & Little Women — both books about amazing young women!
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. To make it a modern retelling I would change the initial disease from cholera to something more dystopian – such as the ozone layer has been drastically depleted – and The Secret Garden still thrives, so they can spread the seeds from the garden to work towards saving the world. Something like that.
Any Sherlock Holmes. And also Don Quixote.
My daughter loves Jane Eyre but for me it is the classic “Winnie the Pooh”
Hmmm..it would be a tie for me..Little Women and White Fang.
Jane Eyre, what else?
JANE EYRE is such a classic and is the favorite of so many women, even after all these years. Gemma Hardy sounds totally awesome. I’ve often thought how circumstance would have been different if Jane made different decisions–such as taking St. John’s offer of marriage and later finding that Rodchester was hurt and desolate without her. One can guess she would have stayed with the missionary until an opportunity came to go to her love –such as St. John’s accidental death. And of course, at that stage she would be bringing her two young children with her as she made her way back to Thornfield Hall. Both older, both desperate still after all these years–would they be able to move into a future together? Possiby they could, but the wounded hero has grown more disabled and feeble through the years–would Jane be able to save him?
Favorite classic story is Les Miserables by Victor Hugo.
Jane Eyre! Looking forward to reading this adaptation.
I love Rebecca!
Romeo and Juliet- though it’s been told so many times and though it was not the first to tell this tale, it is enduring and timeless. It is a modern story without any changes (well except maybe the language).
My favorite is Pride & Prejudice- I wouldn’t change a thing!
Without a doubt Jane Eyre. In fact was just talking about it yesterday with my daughter.
Jane Eyre! I can’t wait to read this book. I would also love to see a modern adaptation of Persuasion and wish I had a clever idea.
Really want to read this book! My favorite classic story is Little Women, which would be pretty easy to adapt–five sisters and the boy next door.
Les Liaisons dangereuses (Dangerous Liaisons). Absolutely LOVE this book!
My favorite classic is Catcher in the Rye. To remodel the story, I may have the main character be a girl instead, but I don’t like the idea of remodeling it because it’s already so good.
All-time favorite classic: Anne of Green Gables.
With a modern twist, I suppose Anne would break a keyboard over Gilbert’s head. Her studies would take place over the computer and she would communicate with Diana through text messages rather than with a window shade.
To be honest, I would have difficulty setting it in modern time. That is an important part of the story’s charm.
Little Women is my fav
Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy would be my husband in my happy ending because he is such a gentleman, handsome, and ends up with having just the right amount of pride not the excessive amount he had before marriage and love brings out the best in him.
Jane Eyre
A Christmas Carol has been my favorite since I was a child. It’s been retold countless times but I don’t think you can beat the original ‘period’ telling.
Moby Dick: I would change the story to a shrimp boat captain trying to run down and capture the infamous man eating white shrimp.
A Tale of Two Cities re-written to express today’s economic times.
I love all of Bronte’s and Austen’s works, but I’ll have to say my favorite is Rebecca. (Love the movie, too!) Maybe have a version that takes place at The Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC.
The Scarlet Letter. Hester would have the baby and name her Pearl. She then divorces Chillingworth, works her way through college, does a lot of community service and raises Pearl.
Pearl grows up, becomes a lawyer and eventually the first woman President of the United States. The media finds her biological father, who is now a TV evangelist and threatens to out him. He has a heart attack on television while confessing his adultery and dies. The ratings go through the roof. Pearl inherits the business (television ministry) and donates the money to a no-kill animal shelter.
Pearl’s graciousness and dignity during the whole scandal earns her a second term. During her second term, she meets and marries a European soccer player. They have a huge White House wedding and twins are born exactly ten months later.
Hester continues her good works until she dies at the age of 93.
Called it over-done, but I love Pride & Prejudice.
I don’t know if this is a classic, but Gone With The Wind with a happy ending.
Wives and Daughters–Mrs. Hamley would live, so would Osborne. Osborne and his french wife would be accepted into the family.
Jane Eyre is my favorite. I look forward to reading The Flight of Gemma Hardy. In a modern retelling, I’d have Jane Eyre never leave.
The Swiss Family Robinson. The only thing I’d change is that it would be in modern day…I always loved that book! <3
Pride and Prejudice
Great interview, Eliza! I’m eager to read this book. Jane Eyre is one of my very favorites and so is Daniel Deronda.
Romeo and Juliet!
Jane Eyre is my favorite — I’ve been trying to get my bookclub to read it for years, maybe the “updated” version would be more appealing!
Jane Eyre was my first adult book; I read it when I was 11 or 12. I don’t think I’d change anything about it – it’s pretty near perfect!
Love Jane eyre !!
So many books! So many choices! I guess I’d have to pick for my favorite “Pride and Prejudice”. I just have a soft spot for Elizabeth and Darcy. I’d be intrigued (and perhaps a little scared) by a modern interpretation.
Great Expectations-
And I fight against it being updated on this 200 anniversary of Dickens’ birth!
My favourite classic story? “Tristan and Iseult” by Joseph Bedier.
My modern re-telling would include a name change from “Tristan” to “Trevor” and “Iseult” to “Isabel,” Izzy for short.
Trevor’s Uncle Mark is clinically depressed, has just splurged on a Ferrari, pierced his ear, and is going through a mid-life crisis after a messy divorce. Trevor suggests to his Uncle to join an online dating service for potential match-ups, but his uncle turns the idea down.
Trevor takes matters into his own hands, signs himself in as his uncle, and “meets” Isabel online.When the two hit it off, Trevor doesn’t know how to tell Isabel the truth, so instead, sets her up with his uncle as originally planned.
Uncle Mark is smitten with Isabel, but Isabel has already met Trevor and there’s an undeniable attraction between them. Does Isabel confess to Trevor about dating an “older man” through an online dating service? Does Trevor risk telling her, he’s known who she was all along and that the “older man” is indeed his Uncle Mark?
(Something like that…)
Thanks for a chance at winning the giveaway. Looks like a great book!
Zara
zgarcia(dot)alvarez(at)gmail(dot)com
On Twitter: @ZaraAlexis
Title is enticing; maybe the next Jane Eyre.
I agree with the commenter who suggested Vanity Fair–it’d be interesting seeing that remade in modern times in America.
My favorite book of all time is Jane Eyre!
My favorite is “Jane Eyre”!
My favorite “classic” is Little Women.
I love “The Odyssey.” Not sure how to set it in modern times, and “Cold Mountain” took care of my favorite time period (the Civil War). So…what about a Tudor version?
Jane Eyre and Les Miserables are my two favorites! I’m excited to read an “updated” version, but I don’t think I would modernize Les Miserables. I like it in the time period it’s in.
My favorite Classic of all time is Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women. And contrary to popular opinion, I would Not change it so that Jo marries Laurie! I like it just the way it is! My second favorite Classic is Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton and another I wouldn’t want to change!
Jane Eyre is my favorite. I think I would have gone quietly insane if I hadn’t discovered Jane and the love of reading when I was ten. Had a hearing loss requiring hearing aids that wouldn’t be diagnosed until I was 28! Really. Books saved my sanity and it all started with Jane. Today, of course, Jane wouldn’t have inherited a fortune in order to be independent, she’d be an entrepreneur! But Reader, she’d always marry Mr. R.
Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre