After the Forest by Kell Woods

Book Blurb

Fifteen 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, 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 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.

My Review

We all know the fairytale of Hansel and Gretel from our childhood; the brother and sister left in the forest by their father, and found by a wicked witch. In After the Forest Kell Woods picks up the story fifteen years later, where Hans and Greta are living in a cottage in the woods after the death of their father. It’s not been easy after war has ravished the country and with Hans gambling what little money than they have. However, Greta has her wonderful moreish gingerbread that always sells, helped by a magical recipe. But the locals still do not trust Greta, after as a young girl killed the witch, and there is always talk of her being a witch. As magic comes to the woods Greta has to decide if she wants to use dark magic or the natural magic of the forest, to defeat the magic that has appeared in the forest.

Whilst this maybe a continuation of a classic fairytale it is aimed at adults, and is the perfect tale for this magical time of year. The main plot line focuses on Greta, now in her twenties, still living with her brother as there is no dowry for her to get married; her and Hans are barely getting by. She is also the talk of the town, she is treated with suspicion ever since she and her brother escaped from the gingerberad house and she pushed the old witch into an oven. She has in her possession a grimoire, which she stole from the witch before fleeing, and this is the secret behind her addictive gingerbread. I really enjoyed her journey, the realisation that she is different, has magic in her, but fears it may be dark magic. There is also a love interest for her, but typical fairytale, all is not as it seems.

As well as Greta and Hans story, Kell Woods weaves through another fairytale of twin sisters Lilianne and Rosabell, that refernces the fairytale of Snow White and Rose Red. After the Woods is very much in the style of German mythology, and the origional Grimm Fairytales with witches, bears, wolves and sense of darkness and forboding throughout. I loved how Kell Woods has taken a fairytale, associated with children, and written a sequel that is for adults with it’s menacing undertone and more adult themes. The story itself is mysterious, magical and full of drama that had me hooked and unable to put the book down.

I really enjoyed reading After the Forest with its well drawn characters and deliciously dark plot line. I was completely immersed in Greta’s story, her otherness, her not really understanding it, but finding herself as the book progressed. This book had everything I wanted in an adult fairytale, great characters, a sense of forboding, suspicion, drama and an enchanting storyline. What ever the time of year this is a magical and compelling read.