Desperate to get away from her violent witch-hunting ex, Anna learns of the town of Whisperwood. The town is not on any known maps, nobody goes there, and nobody comes from it. For Anna, it’s the perfect getaway place.
At first, it seems peaceful, but Anna soon realizes things aren’t right. Her resolve is tested by the vanishing town, as well as an emergency field surgery, and a macabre funeral rite.
Anna cannot leave the frontier settlement. There’s strange folk magic she doesn’t really understand keeping her there, forcing her to stay. Anna soon learns that getting too close to the secrets of the forest around her could be the last thing she ever does.
Why we’re excited about this book:
From the Transylvania region of Romania, Alex Woodroe is a name you need to keep on horror fiction radar. With short fiction featured in such publications as the NoSleep podcast, Alternate History, It Was All a Dream, Horror Library, Volume 7, Picnic in the Graveyard, and Dark Matter Magazine among others, Alex is also the acquisitions editor for Tenebrous Press and runs her own freelance editing company. With her debut novel, Woodroe taps into her own Romanian history and folklore with a terrifying tale of a woman caught in a strange town that refuses to let her escape. Lauren Bolger (Kill Radio) calls Whisperwood “Dark, but also achingly heartfelt, clever, and funny.”, and Mike James (the Hotel at the End of Time series) says Whisperwood is “Modern horror done right, with gorgeous writing, moody overtones and a pace that keeps you turning pages well past your bedtime … a new face of horror has arrived.”
Forthcoming from Flame Tree Press 11 July 2023, Whisperwood by Alex Woodroe is available for pre-order now.
BOB PASTORELLA