And The Trees Crept In is a gothic fairytale that mixes horror and trauma into a mesmerizing tale into adulthood.

• Gothic factor: ★★★★★
• Creepy woods: ★★★★★
• Scare factor: ★★★☆☆
• Mystery factor: ★★★★★
• Psychological themes: ★★★★★
• Authentic voice: ★★★★★

And The Trees Crept In is a wonderfully written original gothic fairytale told with an authentic voice that combines horror with psychological themes. Set in an old dilapidated house where strange things are going on at the edge of the woods where an evil entity roams and where it’s not safe it creates a unique atmosphere full of mystery and ominous happenings.

It consists of 358 pages.

Plot

Three little sisters lived in a house at the edge of the woods. They made a protector out of a doll. But the protector wasn’t what he was supposed to be and he went to live in the woods. Now the woods aren’t safe anymore. One sister died, the other went away to live somewhere else and the oldest one stayed at the house.

Years later the two daughters of the sister who left came back to seek refuge with their aunt in the house at the edge of the woods. Their aunt was a bit weird but they had fun and felt safe and their aunt took care of them. But the aunt warned the children to stay away from the woods for an evil being called the Creeper lived there and wanted to grab them. They lived of the land and everything was good again. 

Then something happened to their aunt who locked herself up in the attack. The oldest sister heard her pacing the floor and she heard other noises too. She was afraid that the Creeper their aunt warned them for wasn’t a fairytale but real and could hurt them. 

The oldest sister took care of herself and her sister until a boy came from the woods. He said he had lived with their aunt some years ago. He helps them tend the garden and brings apples for them to eat. 

Still strange things keep happening inside the house and the soil turns bad and the woods are coming closer each day. Something was very wrong.

Continue reading below this announcement.

Short Review

This Gothic fairytale is a wonderful treat and treasure. It’s the story about 14-year-old Silla who takes her 7-year-old sister Nori through the woods to live with their aunt Cath in her house called La Baume. It starts out like a fairytale but slowly we find out why Silla and Nori left their own home and why little Nori doesn’t speak. For three years they lived happily but the something happens and everything went wrong. 

The writing style is wonderful prose and told by the oldest sister Silla herself. She reels you in, with her personal idyllic fairytale, but between the lines there’s a trauma that wants to surface. Silla wants to protect her sister Nori and herself at all costs and hides her trauma even from herself, as a means to survive. 

Silla is a very strong young girl and Nori is a little girl that doesn’t talk due to trauma. She takes care of her sister more like a mother and she’s determined, protective, but still has her own demons to fight. Aunt Cath is a quirky but loving woman, but she also deals with trauma. 

Although the themes of the story might seem very heavy, the story itself focuses on a gothic fairytale vibe with horror elements that intertwine the themes in a natural way. Therefore it doesn’t feel too heavy. But be prepared to feel a bit devastated and emotional at the end, because it’s a tragic story, but at the same time it does have a happy end in its own way.

The story contains little snippets of notes that Silla wrote in her journal, that lift a piece of the veil of what is really going on. Pay special attention to the words written in capitals. Her little snippets are puzzles that together form a tragic tale of coming into  adulthood, of trauma and fear and guilt. 

The story contains a lot of gothic elements like isolation, a creepy old house, a mystery and secrets, and a love interest. It often feels ominous and creepy and mysterious and like an idyllic dream that slowly turns into a nightmare. 

Slowly the story works towards the truth of what has happened and what is going on. It’s a devastating truth, but at the same time redeeming. It would recommend to read this book in physical form due to the little notes and other pieces of design that are best read in an analog way.