Grethel

Everyone knows the story of Hansel and Grethel, but what happened after the happily ever after? Joseph Duncan, author of The Oldest Living Vampire Saga, expands upon the fairy tale originally recorded and published by the Brothers Grimm in 1812. Grethel, a grown woman now, is haunted by her ordeal in the witch's cottage. The old crone who held her captive when she was a child is long dead, but the witch's spirit calls out to Grethel in her dreams. It is a siren's call that Grethel finds both terrifying and alluring, and when a handsome young nobleman seduces the woodcutter's daughter, Grethel finds herself torn between her desire for love and her thirst for the old crone's arcane knowledge.

"Happily ever after" can have very different meanings, some sweet and hopeful... and some quite dark and frightful. Grethel is a fairy tale for adults, a grim fable about the seductive power of love and the allure of evil.