However, the arrival of a stranger, an Outsider named Gabrielle, who is thrown to the Unconsecrated and becomes one herself, paves the way for the breaching of the fences. Mary consents to Harry's proposal, ultimately hoping she and Travis can find a way to be together. At the Sisterhood, Mary is proposed to by Harry, whose sister has married Jed, and whose younger brother, Travis, is engaged to Mary's best friend, Cassandra. Mary's brother, Jed, is enraged by this, and sends her to the Sisterhood. Mary's mother is ultimately killed by the Unconsecrated while looking among them at the fence for her disappeared husband. The Sisterhood praise God for allowing their village to continue to thrive despite the increasing number of Unconsecrated undead that roam the Forest. Mary now awaits one of two futures: either she will be married, or she will be brought to the Sisterhood, a group that controls the village, its laws, and people. A few months before the novel begins, Mary's father went out into the Forest, never to return. Mary has grown up listening to stories of the ocean, told by her mother. Guardians act as soldiers and also repair the fence.

When the novel begins, Mary lives a simple life in the village that is enclosed by the Forest, which is in turn, kept out by a fence. 'The Forest of Hands and Teeth' is a young adult novel by Carrie Ryan, which involves the efforts of the teenaged Mary and a handful of companions to escape the undead Unconsecrated, which prowl the Forest of Hands and Teeth.

The forest of the hands and teeth