Due to a random chain of events, I ended up rewatching the Bleak House miniseries over the last couple of weeks. There was an article in the paper about a man who learned that his ancestors were involved in one of the legal cases that inspired the book. Meanwhile I was reading a Star Wars book set nearly 20 years after Return of the Jedi, in which Wedge Antilles was a major character, and it occurred to me that the actor who played Wedge had one of the leading roles in Bleak House, though I think he’s older in that than Wedge was in the book. Anyway, I was in the mood for that sort of thing and it made for good background noise while I measured and pinned up some curtains I’m hemming.

But watching that made me wonder if anyone has used the works of Dickens as an inspiration or basis for a fantasy novel. There are a number of fantasy retellings based on the works of Shakespeare, whether directly and obviously or more subtly. For instance, Rachel Caine’s Prince of Shadows is Romeo and Juliet told from the perspective of one of the secondary characters, giving background info that doesn’t appear in the play, like the fact that Romeo and Juliet were under the influence of a love spell (which would explain a lot). On the other hand, the Kingfountain series by Jeff Wheeler draws upon some Shakespeare plays, but set in a fantasy world. I don’t think he hides the inspiration, but it’s not too obvious. I remember reading one, getting midway through it and going, “Oh, he’s doing Richard III.”

But has the same thing been done with Dickens? It would seem particularly suited for epic fantasy, given that his books often cover long stretches of time and have large casts of characters. The setting is so much a part of the story that it’s practically a character, so it has tons of worldbuilding (even if the books were set in the real world, the details chosen to convey that world so that it’s vivid even to people who never saw that setting require the same sort of effort as portraying an imaginary world). The plots would translate easily into court intrigue. There are several of his books that fit the “farmboy with destiny” type trope of fantasy, with obscure young men who rise in the world and turn out to have some kind of inheritance. Fantasy might even make some of his plots make more sense, like his fondness for entirely unrelated people who look so much alike that people mistake them for each other.

I’ve learned that a fantasy retelling of A Tale of Two Cities has just come out, which uses changelings as the explanation for the two unrelated people who look the same. I’ll have to find that one. But is there a fantasy Great Expectations or Our Mutual Friend? I could have fun figuring out how to put Our Mutual Friend in a fantasy world, with the inheritance being a crown instead of the proceeds from a dust heap. Bleak House is just made for a gothic retelling with sorcery.

And now I want to rewatch the miniseries of Our Mutual Friend. I don’t think I’m going to try to delve into reading Dickens right now. I’ve managed to ease my way out of my reading slump by reading shorter, more straightforward books without a lot of subplots. Trying to read Dickens right now would probably be a lost cause. That may be my winter project.