Hanna and Garrett sets the tale of Hansel and Gretel in the present day Northwest.

Hanna Hyrkas and her family are outcasts from Deep River, a community cowering in the shadow of the Witch of the Woods. All assume that this child-stealing spectre is the incarnation of Hanna’s murdered ancestor Aatu. Hanna at eighteen recalls events of six years past, when her bereaved father fell prey to a mysterious woman and the cupboard soon went bare. A pair of wise crows help Hanna and her brother Garrett fend off starvation via skill and guile. Abandoned in the woods, taken captive by the witch, forced to fatten her brother for slaughter, Hanna summons these skills to a duel of deception with an ancient evil. She emerges forever changed.

H&G is True Grit meets Ocean at the End of the Lane, a YA novel with adult crossover potential. The manuscript is complete at 97,000 words. Interested parties may reach me via Contacts page.

Illustration: Coniferous Forest by Ivan Shiskin