Ashes is a dark, emotional journey dealing with trauma and grief set against the backdrop of a magical and fantastical forest with horror elements. It’s compulsively readable: the story immediately grabbed my attention and I ended up finishing it in one day. Even though this story handles heavy subjects, it does so in an informed and compassionate way. Parts of the story were on the edge of too graphic for my tastes, but overall this is a stunning debut and I look forward to watching this author’s career progress.