"After The Forest" Readalong Day 1

As a reminder, from now on, our monthly discussions will be both here on the OwlCrate blog AND on The Nest! Go check out Amber's discussion that will be full of fun extras!
 

On each day we'll read a section of After The Forest   on the blog and in The Nest's discussion group. You can find a book club style discussion on The Nest app, and an insider's view to curation and my thoughts on our book here on the blog. 
 

Just a reminder that this post will be a SPOILER FILLED recap  for chapters 1-4 of After The Forest, so make sure you read or are finished this section before continuing.
 

We meet a young woman, Greta Rosenthal, who is smoking wild honey from a hive in a tree. She falls from the tree and is knocked unconscious. When she comes to, a black bear is licking the honey from her fingers. 

Greta closes her eyes and repeats a prayer her mother taught to her. Eventually she opens her eyes to see the bear has left. 

She makes her way down the hill and stumbles across a child who is hiding from her parents. Her name is Brigitta and Greta tries to shush her. She tells her that she doesn't want to get lost in the woods like Greta when she was little and Brigitta asks her if that was when she found the house made of gingerbread. 

It's then that Brigitta's sister Ingrid comes looking for her and warns them that it's not safe. Two woodcutters have been mauled to death in a forest nearby. 

This makes Greta think of the little peace their region has had in the last thirty years, and of the starving soldiers that have roved the land, attacking villages. 

Brigitta tells Ingrid she was worried that Greta was going to harm her. Greta is taken aback but remembers what the village women think of her, and her past.

Brigitta brings up that Greta did once kill an old woman by stuffing her into an oven. 

Greta tells her she thought she was a sensible girl. Ingrid snaps back that everyone knows that witches are real and that Greta can't blame the child for being fanciful when Greta roams the forest wild-like. 

Then they tease her for having red hair and tell her that soon she'll be leaving Lindenfield anyway because Greta's brother will have gambled their house away. 

Brigitta tells her that Herr Hueber wants his money from Greta's brother in three days time. Greta mentally calculates how much she's going to be able to make at the market on her gingerbread. 

She again asks Brigitta if she knows how much but all she says is that it's for the best and that it would probably be different if Greta had a husband. 

But no one wants to marry a witch. 

Greta goes to a mountain stream to wash but loses her stays in the current. Downstream a tall and rugged man with dark hair is also bathing and sees Greta. He grabs her stays and tells her not to fear him. 

Greta takes his graciously offered cloak and tells him he can get it back a bit down the road at her brother's cottage. 

She leaves, making her way home to their humble house. Inside there are few belongings. Just some chairs, a worn table, woven rugs, and gingerbread molds. But there is also a book. A sassy, sentient book that talks to Greta about where she has been. 

Greta then decides to put the book away for safety and go find her brother, Hans. She wants to ask him how much he has gambled. 

She goes into the village to the tavern but is not allowed inside as an unmarried woman. She considers who may also be aware of her brother's dealings and goes to the burgermeister, Herr Hueber's home, but he is not there…