A lush fantasy retelling of Hansel and Gretel set in seventeenth-century Germany, perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer, Naomi Novik and Marissa Meyer.
Almost twenty years have passed since Greta and her brother Hans escaped the old woman's cottage in the Black Forest, but there was no living happily ever after for them. The war has taken its toll on these lands, husbands and sons lost, a country impoverished. When the local Baron dies, his cruel, young and beautiful wife raises taxes and a Blood Tithe, ensuring that those who can't pay off their debts, pay through servitude.
Wolves are gathering around the village and a group of mercenaries stalk the streets. A black bear has been sighted in the forest, but an encounter with it leaves Greta puzzled by its gentle and peaceful demeanour. Then there are the deaths; bodies have been found in the woods, their blood taken, their hearts removed.
As the villagers become more desperate, whispers of witchcraft abound. With Hans' gambling debts forcing him to take the Blood Tithe, only the addictively-delicious gingerbread Greta makes - created with the help of a book stolen when they escaped their childhood captor – can offer a way out. But there's a price to pay for using this blood skill, Tattermagic…and it could cost Greta everything, unless she can find another way to beat the horrors from her past and find a new path through the darkness…
Set in the Black Forest of Wurttemberg during the mid-17th Century, After the Forest is a stunning meld of love-story, fairy-tale, magic and history which is sure to appeal to fans of Naomi Novik, Rena Rossner and Kate Forsyth.