Kell Woods

Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. For Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of one of Saint-Malo's wealthiest ship-owners, the high walls of the city are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are interested in securing advantageous marriages, Luce dreams of escaping her elegant but stifling home and joining a ship’s crew. Only Samuel—Luce’s best friend and an English smuggler—understands her longing for the sea, secretly teaching her to sail whenever she can sneak away. For Luce, the stolen time on the water with Samuel is precious. One stormy morning, Luce’s plans are blown off course when she rescues Morgan de Chatelaine, the youngest son of the most powerful ship-owner in Saint-Malo, from the sea. Immediately drawn to his charm and sense of adventure, she longs to attend the glittering ball held in honor of his safe return and begins to contemplate a different kind of future for herself. But it is not only Luce’s hopes at stake—the local fae are leaving Brittany and taking their magic with them, while the long-standing war with the English means Saint-Malo is always at risk of attack. As Luce is plunged into a world of magic, brutality, and seduction, secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface. The truth of her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper. Or the scales of a sea-maid's tail.

A dark and enchanting fairy tale-inspired historical fantasy combining elements of "The Little Mermaid" and "Cinderella" into a wholly original tale of love, power, and betrayal. From the Sunday Times bestselling author of After the Forest, for fans of Ava Reid and Naomi Novik. Saint-Malo, Brittany, 1758. To Lucinde Leon, the youngest daughter of a wealthy French shipowner, the high walls of Saint-Malo are more hindrance than haven. While her sisters are busy trying to secure advantageous marriages, Luce spends her days secretly being taught to sail by Samuel, her best friend and an English smuggler. Only he understands how the waves call to her. Then one stormy morning, Luce rescues a drowning man from the sea. Immediately drawn in by the stranger's charm, Luce is plunged into a world of glittering balls and faerie magic, seduction and brutality. Secrets that have long been lost in the shadowy depths of the ocean begin to rise to the surface, but as Luce wrestles with warring desires, she finds that her own power is growing brighter and brighter, shining like a sea-glass slipper. Or the scales of a sea-maid's tail.

A lush fantasy retelling of Hansel and Gretel set in seventeenth-century Germany, perfect for fans of Brigid Kemmerer, Naomi Novik and Marissa Meyer. Almost twenty years have passed since Greta and her brother Hans escaped the old woman’s cottage in the Black Forest, but there was no living happily ever after for them. The war has taken its toll on these lands, husbands and sons lost, a country impoverished. When the local Baron dies, his cruel, young and beautiful wife raises taxes and a Blood Tithe, ensuring that those who can’t pay off their debts, pay through servitude. Wolves are gathering around the village and a group of mercenaries stalk the streets. A black bear has been sighted in the forest, but an encounter with it leaves Greta puzzled by its gentle and peaceful demeanour. Then there are the deaths; bodies have been found in the woods, their blood taken, their hearts removed. As the villagers become more desperate, whispers of witchcraft abound. With Hans’ gambling debts forcing him to take the Blood Tithe, only the addictively-delicious gingerbread Greta makes - created with the help of a book stolen when they escaped their childhood captor – can offer a way out. But there’s a price to pay for using this blood skill, Tattermagic…and it could cost Greta everything, unless she can find another way to beat the horrors from her past and find a new path through the darkness… Set in the Black Forest of Wurttemberg during the mid-17th Century, After the Forest is a stunning meld of love-story, fairy-tale, magic and history which is sure to appeal to fans of Naomi Novik, Rena Rossner and Kate Forsyth.