After the Forest

A lush fantasy retelling of Hansel and Gretel set in seventeenth-century Germany, perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer, Naomi Novik and Marissa Meyer.

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 with her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, not to mention the rumours 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.

About the Author

Kell Woods is an Australian historical fantasy author. She lives near the sea in Jervis Bay in New South Wales. Kell studied English Literature, creative writing and librarianship. She has worked in libraries for the past 12 years, all the while writing about made-up (and not so made-up) places, people and things you might remember from the fairy tales you read as a child.

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, bestselling author of The Library of the Dead

"Kell Woods' debut takes familiar stories and tropes from the vast corpus of the Brothers Grimm and smartly weaves them into an excellent historical fantasy novel. After the Forest is poetic, evocative, and most of all, addictive.... After the Forest is high up on my list of best books of 2023. An author to watch and a powerhouse debut." —Grimdark Magazine

"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 Times bestselling author of The Three Lives of Alix St Pierre

"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

"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

Dimensions: 13.1 x 3.5 x 19.8 cm