Synopsis
Within "The Walls", the mysterious, impenetrable fact of life for a secluded Alpine village, lie the creations and universe once brought into being by the Brothers Grimm. Inside, magic exists and the fantastical beasts of legend are controlled by the binding Contract, set in place by Jakob and Wilhelm when their exile to the compound, forced out by their fellow man with fear and loathing, began. But the family line of Grimm is dying. On Samhein night, the hours of the Passage when Grimms are able to pass between their two worlds, a girl child is taken from the Beyond, the world of mankind that carries on outside the confines of The Walls. All would pass, the child's disappearance be explained away to wolves, if there were not someone devoted to bringing her back. When Ilse, the older sister of the kidnapped girl, enters into the Compound, she finds a world of darkness and wonder on the edge of revolution and uncovers the powerful truth of her origins.
Excerpt
Grandmother watched the two set off down the trail from the doorway and leaned against the doorway. Her bones ached, it would snow heavily for the night of the Passage, but there was a heavy pull to the hurt as well. She shut the door and went to sit in the storytelling chair, pulling up her withered legs as an ancient woman should not be able and folding them beneath her, sitting like a young child may. She lit a long pipe and stared with consternation at the map on the wall, perfect smoke rings floating away from her to break against the old, yellowed paper. The outline of the Walls twitched beneath her gaze and deepened to the color of dried blood. That was a dark sign and a heavy shadow passed and then settled over her blue eyes. Samhein was not a good stretch of hours to feel such a foreboding for. Whatever she had been waiting for was approaching and only gaining in momentum with each long moment that passed.
