Sometimes, messages can get lost in translation (or in the Pond). This is perhaps never more true than in the world of literature, where books - especially those that sell internationally - contain cultural elements or word choices with which some readers may not be familiar. In these not-so-rare instances, publishers will sometimes rework a title, or even edit the main body of the book, in order to appeal to a particular country’s readership.
This, of course, is true of both Britain and the United States, who - given their shared language - have a generally broad admiration for the other’s literary works.
As you will see from the list below, there are one or two British authors whose works were frequently retitled for American readers, most notably those of Agatha Christie and P. G. Wodehouse (famous for the Jeeves and Wooster novels). In many instances, it is difficult to see why such alterations were made, while in the case of titles such as Christie’s Ten Little Niggers, it is starkly obvious.
For other books, however, such as Philip Pullman’s Northern Lights (re-titled in the U.S. as The Golden Compass), alterations can be made based on a publisher’s mere interpretation of the front cover (Knof, the U.S. publisher of The Golden Compass, mistakenly thought their new title successfully referred to Lyra’s alethiometer. Even after Pullman had changed the trilogy name to His Dark Materials, Knof - so taken by the name - opted to leave The Golden Compass as the name of the first book).
Sometimes, and this is the case with Ted Hughes’ The Iron Man (retitled as The Iron Giant in the United States), books are renamed to avoid potential copyright infringement or general confusion between existing titles of the same name (Iron Man is, of course, a prominent member of the Marvel Universe).
In all there are hundreds of books - including the 83 listed below - that were renamed for an American readership. From Roald Dahl to J. K. Rowling, Aldous Huxley to Stephen Fry, here are 23 British authors whose books were retitled for American readers.
AUTHOR | UK TITLE | US TITLE |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | What Mrs. MacGillicuddy Saw! as well as Murder, She Said | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Funerals are Fatal | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Death in the Air | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | So Many Steps to Death | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Poirot Loses a Client | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder in Retrospect | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Hickory Dickory Death | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder for Christmas, as well as A Holiday for Murder | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder After Hours | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Thirteen at Dinner | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | The Mirror Crack'd | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | The Case of the Moving Finger | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Blood Will Tell | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Easy to Kill | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | An Overdose of Death as well as The Patriotic Murders. | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | The Murder at Hazelmoor | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Remembered Death | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | There is a Tide | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder With Mirrors | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder in Three Acts | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | The Boomerang Clue | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Murder in the Calais Coach | |
AGATHA CHRISTIE | Ten Little Niggers | |
ALDOUS HUXLEY | Young Archimedes | |
ANGELA CARTER | The War of Dreams | |
ANGELA CARTER | Honeybuzzard | |
ANNE FINE | Alias Madame Doubtfire | |
ANNE FINE | The More the Merrier | The True Story of Winter |
DIANA WYNNE-JONES | Black Maria | Aunt Maria |
DIANA WYNNE-JONES | Wilkins' Tooth | Witch's Business |
ENID BLYTON | Mystery Island | |
GRAHAM GREENE | Orient Express | |
IAN SERRAILLIER | Escape from Warsaw | |
J.K. ROWLING | Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone | |
JENNY NIMMO | Charlie Bone and the Invisible Boy | |
JENNY NIMMO | Charlie Bone and the Castle of Mirrors | |
JENNY NIMMO | Charlie Bone and the Shadow | |
JENNY NIMMO | Charlie Bone and the Beast | |
JENNY NIMMO | Emlyn's Moon | Orchard of the Crescent Moon |
JENNY NIMMO | Charlie Bone and the Time Twister | |
JOHN GARDNER | Cold Fall | |
LAURIE LEE | Edge of Da | |
LEN DEIGHTON | Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Spy | Catch a Falling Spy |
MARTIN HANDFORD | Where's Waldo? | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | America, I Like You | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Author! Author! | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Blandings Castle | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Golf Without Tears | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Divots | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Crime Wave at Blandings | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | He Rather Enjoyed It | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Mostly Sally | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Cat-nappers | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Angel Cake | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Purloined Paperweight | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Biffen's Millions | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Brinkmanship of Galahad Threepwood | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Intrusion of Jimmy | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Three Men and a Maid | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Ice in the Bedroom | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Jeeves | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Bertie Wooster Sees It Through | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | How Right You Are, Jeeves | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Little Warrior | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Jeeves and the Tie That Binds | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Plot That Thickened | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | No Nudes is Good Nudes | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Brinkley Manor | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Return of Jeeves | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Sam in the Suburbs | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | The Butler Did It | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Something New | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Fish Preferred | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Their Mutual Child | |
P.G. WODEHOUSE | Jeeves in the Morning | |
PETER GEORGE | Two Hours to Doom | |
PHILIP ARDAGH | A House Called Awful End | |
PHILIP PULLMAN | The Golden Compass | |
ROALD DAHL | The Umbrella Man and Other Stories | |
ROBERT GRAVES | The Golden Fleece | Hercules, My Shipmate |
DICK KING-SMITH | Daggie Dogfoot | Pigs Might Fly |
DICK KING-SMITH | Babe The Gallant Pig | |
STEPHEN FRY | Revenge | |
TED HUGHES | The Iron Giant |
Laurence is a British expat living in Indianapolis, Indiana. He is a contributor for BBC America and writes a weekly column for Anglotopia. Having graduated from Lancaster University with a degree in English Language and Creative Writing, Laurence runs this blog, Lost In The Pond, charting the endless cultural and linguistic differences between Britain and The United States.
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