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After the Forest

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After the Forest

By: Kell Woods
Narrated by: Esther Wane
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About this listen

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 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 – 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 rumours about her childhood misadventures, are 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.

©2023 Kell Woods. All rights reserved. (P)2023 Macmillan Audio Fantasy Historical Magic Fiction Witchcraft

Critic reviews

'This wonderful, well-woven story is so rich and affecting you can't help but savour every single sentence. 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)
'Deliciously irresistible.' (Natasha Lester, New York Times bestselling author)
'Utterly enchanting.' (Kate Forsyth, bestselling and award-winning author of The Chain of Charm series)
All stars
Most relevant
A very unusual and gripping story. I very much enjoyed it. Clever to reuse old fairytales.

Beautifully written and read

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I don’t choose to listen to many fantasy based books, but this one has so many good reviews that I thought it would be an interesting Christmas listen. Unfortunately I wasn’t really taken with it and as I got within around three hours of the end, I started skipping parts just to get through it. I know many others will be enjoying it, but it just wasn’t for me. Witches and wolves and bears that become men and women obviously don’t do it for me, but if this is one of your favourite genres, give it a go. I just regret that I used a precious credit for this.

Not My Genre

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