I am over the actual moon to announce that After the Forest (formerly known as Gingerstruck) will be published by Tor Books in September 2023.
Set in the Black Forest of Wurttemberg during the mid-17th century, After the Forest is a dark, compelling, and enchanting meld of love-story, fairy-tale, magic and history that explores the repercussions of a childhood filled with magic - and how happily ever after isn’t always so happy.
Ginger. Honey. Cinnamon. Flour.
Twenty years after the witch in the gingerbread house, Greta and Hans are struggling to get by. Their father and stepmother are long dead, Hans has his debts, and a bloody war has ravaged the land. But as long as Greta has her gingerbread recipe (found in a book from the witch long ago), she can keep their small family afloat. But dark magic is returning to the woods. Wolves howl in the night, there have been bodies, gruesomely murdered, found in the woods, and Greta has even caught sight of an enormous black bear wandering the forest. In a village full of superstition, Greta, with her red hair, her past with the witch, and her mysteriously addictive gingerbread, is a source of gossip and suspicion. But something dark looms on the horizon, and Greta’s secret magic—a magic she is still discovering herself—may be the only thing that can stop it.
A huge thank you to the team at Tor, and to my agent Julie Crisp for taking a chance on my gingerbread book.
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