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After the Forest

by Kell Woods

Narrator Esther Wane

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Length 13 hours 56 minutes

Language English

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Summary
About the author

After the Forest is a dark and enchanting fantasy debut from Kell Woods that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic and a young woman contending with the truth of “happily ever after.”

Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.

Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their mother and stepmother are long dead, Hans is deeply in debt from gambling, and the countryside lies in ruin, its people starving in the aftermath of a brutal war.

Greta has a secret, though: the witch's grimoire, secreted away and whispering in Greta's ear for the past two decades, and the recipe inside that makes the best gingerbread you've ever tasted. As long as she can bake, Greta can keep her small family afloat.

But in a village full of superstition, Greta and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumors about her childhood misadventures, is a source of gossip and suspicion.

And now, dark magic is returning to the woods and Greta's magic—magic she is still trying to understand—may be the only thing that can save her. If it doesn't kill her first.

A Macmillan Audio production from Tor Books.

Fiction Fantasy

Kell Woods is an Australian historical fantasy author. She has studied English literature, creative writing, and librarianship, and writes about made-up (and not so made-up) places, people, and things you might remember from the fairy tales you read as a child. Kell lives near the sea with her husband, two sons, and a kitten named Juniper.

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Audiobook details

Author:
Kell Woods

Narrator:
Esther Wane

ISBN:
9781250291790

Length:
13 hours 56 minutes

Language:
English

Publisher:
Macmillan Audio

Publication date:
October 3, 2023

Edition:
Unabridged

Libro.fm rank:
#20,047 Overall

Genre rank:
#2,948 in Fantasy

Reviews

"This wonderful, well-woven story is so rich and affecting you can't help but savour every single sentence. With characters that leap off the page, worldbuilding that immerses you completely, and a perfectly paced plot, Woods's clever retelling of the popular Hansel and Gretel fairy tale succeeds in giving us something novel and authentic."—T.L. Huchu, USA Today bestselling author of The Library of the Dead

“A dark and wondrous tale. Utterly enchanting.”—Kate Forsyth, bestselling author of The Crimson Thread

“After the Forest is as deliciously irresistible as the gingerbread Greta bakes in the book. A touch of magic, a dash of mystery, a sprinkle of love and lashings of elegant writing make for a gorgeous debut novel that you'll want to consume in one gulp. Kell Woods shows that she's a born storyteller with a wonderful imagination and I, for one, am now a huge fan.”—Natasha Lester, New York Time bestselling author of The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre

“Evocative, vivid and enchanting: Historical fantasy at its best.”—Belinda Alexandra, bestselling author of The French Agent

“This is utterly captivating novel blends folklore and European history with themes of family discord, trauma and self-discovery. . . Dark as molasses and dripping with witchcraft, love and magic gingerbread, After the Forest is the fairytale retelling of the year.”—Lauren Chater, bestselling author of The Winter Dress

“With one foot in history, the other in folklore, After the Forest is a love song to fairy tales. Replete with secrets, magic, witches and wolves, bears and whispering books, Greta’s world is one where enchantment can become a curse on the turn of a tongue. At once sweet as gingerbread and bitterly dark as heart’s blood, After the Forest is reminiscent of Juliet Marillier at her finest.”—Angela Slatter, award-winning author of The Path of Thorns

“Kell Woods has a historian’s eye for detail, a born storyteller’s understanding of tropes, and a poet’s gift for description. Woods’ debut offers readers a fresh take on fairytale reimaginings, exploring women’s agency through a convergence of myth, magic and history. A sophisticated and intricately plotted debut with a compelling heroine.”—Jo Riccioni, award-winning author of The Branded and The Rising