Beneath the Earth and Woods is a Young Adult retelling of the Norwegian fairy tale “East of the Sun and West of the Moon.” It is the first book in a trilogy.
Set in 1809 Norway, Beneath the Earth and Woods follows 18-year-old Sigrid Jørgensdatter, the daughter of a barley farmer. For much of her life, Sigrid has not questioned her father’s command to avoid the forest Dormeskog. Looming just beyond her family’s barley fields, the forest is a sanctuary for creatures born of dark magic—and those tainted by its touch. Yet with Sigrid’s family on the brink of destitution, she sees no other option but to accept employment at a manor within the forest—where a strange creature, the Udyr, dwells. Upon meeting the Udyr, she is stunned to find nothing of the monster she had expected, but rather a crippled, soft-spoken being neither animal nor human. His only companion is Snø, a highly opinionated Arctic fox.
Sigrid and the Udyr grow close in the passing months, until she unknowingly breaks a curse he had suffered beneath for years, cast upon him by the feared Dark Elf Queen. She deduces his identity to be that of the missing Crown Prince, which he confirms. However, unbeknownst to them both, lifting the enchantment has also broken the protective barrier surrounding the manor. No longer barred from the manor, Elf Queen comes and steals the Prince away.
Now, with only Snø by her side and a pair of magic knitting needles for protection, Sigrid sets out on the perilous journey to rescue the man she loves. Time is short though. For in one hand, the Queen clutches the Prince’s withering freedom; in the other, she holds a knife against the threads of Norway’s fragile peace—waiting for the opportune moment to cut them away and plunge the country back into war.