Season of Fear

By: Emily Cooper

Published by Christy Ottaviano Books-Little Brown and Hachette, 2025-09-02

Night of the Witch meets The Handmaid's Tale in this gothic fantasy debut set against the monstrous Bavarian forest of Hexenwald. ★ "A dark and dreadful tour de force of a debut! Exquisitely beautiful and horrific."--Erin A. Craig, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Thirteenth Child In the Bavarian village of Heulensee, women feed their terror to an ancient Saint of Fear. In return, it protects them from the monsters of the Hexenwald, the haunted forest on their doorstep. Born unfearing, Ilse Odenwald has felt like an outsider all her life. When the Saint discovers Ilse's divergence, it levels a threat: She must find her fear, or the Saint will devour her sister, Dorothea--the only person who loves Ilse unconditionally. Unwilling to lose Thea, Ilse enters the Hexenwald. She hopes that its horrors will finally unleash her fear and, in turn, save her sister. But during her quest Ilse inadvertently uncovers something more sinister than the monsters that hunt her: a darkness within herself. As the forest closes in, Ilse's hopes for a normal future begin to slip away, as well as the chance to save not just Thea, but all women in Heulensee. Bewitching and timely, this gripping debut novel is a dark fairy tale about the fate of girls and women in a world grown accustomed to sacrificing them.