Never Afters Series

Burnt Sugar is a dark and evocative re-imagining of a classic fairy tale from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott. Ideal for fans of Jane Yolen, Theodora Goss, and Catherynne M. Valente. Decades after the incident in the woods, Gretel has forged a good life in a small village, running a bakery and taking care of her brother and the stray, bedraggled women who find work as her apprentices. Business is good, and when it's not, Gretel took more from the witch than a knack of making sweet treats and gingerbread, just as her brother returned home forever changed by the torture he experienced. The book of magic hidden beneath the stairs has kept Gretel and her household comfortable for years, but it also calls to Gretel in the night, demanding she return to the woods and replace the witch they killed. For years, she's been resisting, determined to keep Hansel and her apprentices safe. Then Hansel's drinking goes too far and Gretel realises her brother is dying. Finally, the seductive call of the book's magic might be too strong to deny… Burnt Sugar is the first novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, and moments of loss and forgiveness.

The New Wife is a bloody tale of ghosts, vengeance, and dark curses from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott, sure to appeal fans of Angela Carter's The Bloody Chamber and Angela Slatter's Sourdough stories. Bluebeard's seventh wife is the first to survive his wrath, courtesy of ghostly warnings and the timely intervention of her brothers. The village burns her murderous husband, his crimes laid bare and his wealth passed on to her… but even after his death, Bluebeard's house won't allow anyone to leave. All wives—living and dead—remain trapped in their husband's manor, even as the man who terrorised them proves to be less dead than they had hoped. Haunted by his vengeful ghost, can the wives find a way to break the curse that would bind them in darkness and torment forever? The New Wife is the second novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, and moments of loss and forgiveness.

After Midnight is a tale of royalty, bloodlines, and royal slippers from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott, sure to appeal to fans of Catherynne M. Valente and Theodora Goss.    The Queen who'd once swept up the cinders is exiled to a distant wing of the palace, replaced by a younger, prettier girl who can bear her King an heir. Unwilling to accept the rapid deterioration of her power and desperately clinging to fraying strands of sanity, the exiled Queen journals the choices that led to her sorry state… and those she must make in order to reclaim her rightful place in the kingdom.    But there's more than one prisoner in the castle, and the conspiracy that draws tight around Queen and rival involves graver threats than a return to poverty.   After Midnight is the third novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, and moments of loss and forgiveness.  

Braid is a dark and spellbinding reimagining of Rapunzel from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott. Ideal for fans of Emma Donoghue, Kelly Link, and A.S. Byatt.   Decades after escaping the tower, Zel makes her living as a healer and wise-woman, travelling the lands with her family and the sentient, serpentine braid that still carries a touch of the witch's magic. Short-haired and happy, Zel prepares for the birth of her first great-grandchild, only to find herself shaken by unexpected news: Mother Gothel is dead.   Memories of the woman who raised her, isolated and imprisoned, unlock within Zel an equal measure of anger and grief, forcing her at last to reckon with the tragic events of that long-ago summer when her own children came of age … a season where implacable death stalked her family across the wild, grassy plains and the world Zel knew split open and soured.   For there are graver threats in Zel's world than witches, greater sorrows to be borne than the loss of true love, and some dangers from which even the oldest, strongest magic may not be enough to protect her. Braid is the fourth novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, and moments of loss and forgiveness.

By the Moon's Good Grace is a wild and gothic re-imagining of a classic story from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott. Ideal for fans of Kelly Link, Angela Carter, and Catherynne M. Valente.   The night after the tumultuous events at her grandmother's house, Little Red ventures into the woods to find her missing grandmother. Instead, she discovers a stranger who claims to be her aunt…and learns a startling secret. Her family are wolves, changing form in phase with the moon, and the beast slain in grandmother's cottage means she'll not be home again.   With the full moon overhead, Red learns she can undergo the change herself, but life as a wolf is not so easy as it might appear. The villagers distrust fanged beast and fell magic in equal measure, and every transformation places her family in peril. The secret her grandmother kept close could now bring death to her mother, her aunt, and even Red herself. There are paths that need to be chosen, and no decision will come without sacrifice.   By the Moon's Good Grace is the fifth novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, loss, and forgiveness.

Winterbloom is a heart-breaking and fey re-imagining of a classic story from the award-winning Kirstyn McDermott. Ideal for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Kate Bernheimer, and Danielle Wood. Several years into their marriage, Beauty and her once beastly husband are at a crossroads. Though they still love each other, they have not been able to have children nor talk about the problems that have beset them since the fairy curse was lifted. Instead, she devotes herself to the roses in their garden while he composes music to charm the most discerning Parisian audiences. But Beauty secretly longs for the Beast with whom she fell in love, and her husband fears he's no longer the creature she most desires. When Peregrine, Beauty's enigmatic fey sister-in-law, comes to visit, she sparks off a chain of events that will either heal the marriage or leave it in irretrievable tatters. Winterbloom is the sixth novella in Kirstyn McDermott's Never Afters series. Dark, powerful, and brimming with magic, these tales weave a reimagined world in which fairy-tale girls grow up to find both love and heartbreak, family and friendship, loss, and forgiveness.