Junia is hungry—for peace, for choice, for escape. But since the death of her uncle, she must go without and satisfy the hunger of others. She cooks and bakes to feed the customers of the family tavern. And then, of course, she must also serve her brutish cousin, who is hungry for her. Things get worse as time goes on and the enemy army approaches, laying siege to her home. Trapped in an abusive marriage and struggling to raise two children she can’t bring herself to love, all Junia wants is freedom. But there is no escape from the city, and the food is running out.
In Before the Forest, author Kell Woods explores the horrifying conditions and desperation the townspeople suffered during the 1648 siege of Breisach. While this short story stands alone, it is a prequel to After the Forest, giving the witch from Hansel and Gretel an origin story. Like Woods’s debut novel, this story examines the consequences of trauma through a fairy tale lens. The tale reimagined here is one of the grimmest from the Brothers Grimm: The Juniper Tree.
The setting of a besieged city in which the innocent townsfolk suffer the privations of a war is a fitting one with which to explore The Juniper Tree’s themes of murder and cannibalism, and Woods marries history and fiction in shocking detail. When assault and domestic abuse are added in, Junia is all too believable as a woman pushed to the breaking point. Her story is a gut-wrenching read, the kind that had me whispering, no, no, in horror as I hung on every word. As a stark warning of the results of man’s inhumanity to man (and woman), Before the Forest is powerfully grim.
Lissa Sloan is the author of Glass and Feathers, a transformational continuation of the traditional Cinderella tale. Her fairy tale poems and short stories have appeared in The Fairy Tale Magazine, Niteblade Magazine, Corvid Queen, Three Ravens Podcast, and anthologies from World Weaver Press. Visit Lissa online at lissasloan.com, or connect on Facebook, Instagram, @lissa_sloan, or Twitter, @LissaSloan.
Comments