This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix (Remixed Classics #10)
Elle Grenier
Feiwel & Friends
Published February 10, 2026

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About This Wretched Beauty: A Dorian Gray Remix

Haunted by a portrait that seems to taunt them, a conflicted young aristocrat spirals down a path to the worst possible version of themself in this suspenseful retelling of The Picture of Dorian Gray, perfect for fans of The Spirit Bares Its Teeth and These Violent Delights.

Happiness needs to be earned in the face of impossible odds, or there’s no beauty in it.

London, 1867. Dorian Gray is the heir to a title and their family’s estate, but they’ve never been given the chance to decide whether that’s actually what they want out of life. Forcibly estranged from their father by their manipulative grandfather, Dorian feels trapped in the life that has been decided for them.

Then one night they sneak out of their grandfather’s house, they meet a sweet and talented young painter named Basil, who immediately recognizes Dorian as his new muse. They agree to sit for Basil for a portrait, and Dorian is struck by the beauty and depth that Basil paints into their likeness—and they dare to begin hoping there might be more to life than being their grandfather’s perfect, empty-headed heir.

Dorian is further elated when Basil introduces them to the world of molly houses and drag performers—they’ve never seen such joyful variety of humanity and gender expression. But, as the barrier between the London they know and the one they’re discovering begins to crumble, Dorian must face the fact that freedom and safety do not come hand in hand.

The aftermath of this realization pulls Dorian into a terrible downward spiral, torn between guilt over their own actions and hatred for the suffocating expectations of society. They push away those closest to them, surrounding themself instead with vapid courtiers and decadent socialites. And as Dorian’s spiral of self-loathing deepens, something strange happens—Basil’s portrait of them begins to change. Their smile becomes a little sharper, the glint in their eyes a little colder.

Dorian will have to choose—embrace the wickedness within and allow themself to become what they were always meant to be, or dare to try for something far more fragile and dangerous: a life of their own making.

My Review

I wasn’t familiar with the original work when I picked up this novel, and I wish that wasn’t true. It feels like the kind of story that has something to say in its deliberate reflections and departures from the original story.

Despite that, I found this book to be pretty engrossing. The writing is very voice-y. The style of it constantly reminds readers that this book is from another time, yet it’s not hard to read. I found myself really fascinated with that, especially considering this is a debut novel. It’s pretty impressive to come right out of the gate with writing this clever.

The story approaches horror without delving into it. Dorian feels haunted by a portrait that changes over time, reflecting changes in character that Dorian is afraid for anyone else to see.

Dorian’s interrogation of gender and identity is a little bit subtle as well. I sometimes lost that thread in the midst of other plot elements. However, I think that those questions of identity worked well in the context of the story. They felt like natural questions for the character to examine. It’s hard for me to imagine the original story without them.

Weirdly, reading this book made me want to go back and read Exquisite Things by Abdi Nazemian, which has a lot of themes similar to this book.

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages LIST.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
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Romance/Sexual Content
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Spiritual Content
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Violent Content
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Drug Content
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