Perfect for fans of Premee Mohamed’s The Butcher of the Forest and The Woods All Black by Lee Mandelo, this novella is a historical fantasy examining family, humanity, and what it means to be a mother.
When the midwife delivers a baby to the Lady of the Manor, she knows instantly that something’s not right, for no baby she’s ever delivered was born with an acorn in its mouth or with a fern growing out of its umbilical stump.
This, the midwife realizes, is a child of the forest.
And when the Lady rejects the child that should not be, the midwife does what needs doing and takes the strange girl home to her cottage in the forest to raise her as her own, until the forest claims her.
As the girl grows, safe with the wolves and bears and her Middy, the midwife must walk a fine line between protecting the child of the forest and navigating the intimate lives of the villagers, the Lady of the Manor, and the vile Lord of the Land.
Because, when it comes down to it, the midwife will do what needs to be done.
And sometimes, they never do find the bodies.
