After the Forest, Kell Woods
After the Forest, Kell Woods
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After the Forest

Author: Kell Woods

Narrator: Esther Wane

Unabridged: 13 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 10/03/2023

Synopsis

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.

About Kell Woods

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.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Esta on September 24, 2024

Happy release day! I do appreciate well-done adult fairytale retellings and this Hansel and Gretel 15 years after they escaped from the witch, with a sprinkle of Snow White and Rose Red (Brothers’ Grimm) was a creative take that I hadn’t seen done before. The question is, what would life look like in......more

Goodreads review by Terrie on November 04, 2023

After the Forest by Kell Woods is a Beautifully Written Debut Novel! A Retelling of Hansel and Gretel twenty years after... Greta and Hans are struggling and the threat of losing their home, due to Hans' gambling debts, looms large. The land around them is ravaged from a long and treacherous war. The......more

Goodreads review by Kate on September 03, 2023

Not for me, I'm afraid. I thought this would be a sort of modern update of what happened to Hansel and Gretel "after the forest" so to speak. In a way it was but it was so mired in fairy tale that I became increasingly frustrated by it. Great, now grown, appears to have fewer brains than when she was......more

Goodreads review by Rachel (TheShadesofOrange) on August 21, 2023

2.5 Stars I love fantasy inspired by fairy tales so this novel sounded right up my alley. This one ask the question of what happens after. I adore this premise. However in terms of execution, the narrative really fell flat. I should have absolutely loved this one, but instead found myself disconnecte......more

Goodreads review by Jsiva on October 28, 2023

Enthralling and full of rich detail. I kept thinking that the story would link to another older fairytale, but that was not true. It touches upon little hints of fairy tales such as Snow White and Red Rose or Rumpelstiltskin. I appreciated the historical grounding with places, timeline, historical f......more

Quotes

"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

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