SHORTLISTED FOR THE CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR WRITING 2026

A vibrant, evocative and magical debut which centres a positive, empowered disabled character at the heart of a reimagining of Little Red Riding Hood.

The woods are hiding a secret... but then so is Red...

Red is not allowed to go into the woods. Everyone knows that they are dangerous - because of their strange magic and the wolves that lurk there... But Red finds herself increasingly drawn to the woods and the place where her grandmother disappeared without a trace three years ago. When the woodcutter fails to return home one night and wolves are spotted close to the village boundary, fear drives a deep and dangerous divide between the villagers and the nature they live alongside.

Only Red seems to hold the key - but she has a secret, and exposing it could ruin her family forever ...