Anna and Abel couldn’t be more different. They are both seventeen and in their last year of school, but while Anna lives in a nice old town house and comes from a well-to-do family, Abel, the school drug dealer, lives in a big, prisonlike tower block at the edge of town. Anna is afraid of him until she realizes that he is caring for his six-year-old sister on his own. Fascinated, Anna follows the two and listens as Abel tells little Micha the story of a tiny queen assailed by dark forces. It’s a beautiful fairy tale that Anna comes to see has a basis in reality. Abel is in real danger of losing Micha to their abusive father and to his own inability to make ends meet. Anna gradually falls in love with Abel, but when his “enemies” begin to turn up dead, she fears she has fallen for a murderer. Has she? Award-winning author Antonia Michaelis moves in a bold new direction with her latest novel: a dark, haunting, contemporary story that is part mystery, part romance, and part melodrama.

18 Jahre sind vergangen, seit Abel, der Märchenerzähler und Wolf, den Tod fand. Sein Sohn Elias weiß nicht, ob er ihn hassen oder vermissen soll. Doch dann macht er eine merkwürdige Entdeckung: Seine Mutter Anna schreibt dem Märchenerzähler Briefe – und bekommt Antworten. Er beginnt ihr nachzuspionieren. Lebt sein Vater etwa noch? Wer ist der Schatten im Wald und was verheimlicht Abels Schwester Micha? In den geheimnisvollen Briefen liest Elias ein neues Märchen – so mörderisch wie das vor 18 Jahren …