Books about secondary characters…

30 replies

SundayNightBluesAreHere · 21/07/2025 23:47

I’ve recently really enjoyed reading a couple of books that tell the stories of secondary characters from well known stories…

The Five - telling the stories of the victims of Jack the Ripper

The Butchers Daughter - the story of Mrs Lovett, of Sweeney Todd fame

Does anyone know of any other books like this, I’d love to find some more!

TIA if anyone can help!

OP posts:

MsAmerica · 22/07/2025 00:17

One book getting a ton of attention has been James, by Percival Everett. It's a different angle on Huckleberry Finn, with the eponymous character being the slave Jim in the original. I wasn't particularly interested, except that I hugely admired the movie American Fiction, which Everett wrote. It's clever (with the premise that black slaves are putting on an act, playing dumb), but not as clever as everyone thinks it is.

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/738749/james-pulitzer-prize-winner-by-percival-everett/

HappilyUrbanTrimmer · 21/07/2025 23:58

Charlotte by Helen Moffat is very good - telling more of the life of Charlotte Lucas after she married Mr Collins in P&P

sarsaparillatree · 21/07/2025 23:58

If you have read the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon (or seen the TV show), she has also written stand alone books about one of the secondary characters, Lord John Grey.

Grimny · 21/07/2025 23:55

'Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead', by Tom Stoppard, would be the best-known example. A play, though, not a novel.

sarsaparillatree · 21/07/2025 23:54

Wide Sargasso Sea - about the mad woman in the attic in Jane Eyre.
I didn't like the book at all, but it's quite famous.
Not exactly a secondary character, but "Raffles, the Amateur Cracksman" is fun. It's by E W Hornung who was Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law. The hero is a villain, in complete contrast to Sherlock Holmes.

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