A deeply scarred woman returns to the hometown she fled twelve years ago in this Appalachian Gothic tale of twisted family trees and the secrets buried deep beneath their roots. For fans of the generational mysteries of Chris Whitaker's All the Colors of the Dark and We Begin at the End mixed with the ecological suspense of T. Kingfisher's What Moves the Dead and the gothic sense of place in Quinn Connor's The Pecan Children.
Twelve years ago, Emery Flynn fled her small but prosperous Appalachian town in the dead of night with nothing but her dead mother’s boots, her dead father’s truck, and her best friend’s blood-soaked t-shirt wrapped around her mangled hand.
Now 30, Emery’s convinced herself she’s as successfully severed from her past as her right thumb and forefinger were that night. But when she’s summoned to collect the effects of a late aunt she didn’t know she had, it’s clear: Emery’s still as inextricably tied to Adder’s Tongue as the roots of its famous Ferniculous Digitalis trees.
Hoping to go unnoticed amongst the fanfare and its crowds, she returns on the eve of the natural phenomenon that put her hometown on the map, only to find the once-thriving town dying a slow death. When the town’s scions start dying, too, and the physical evidence is clear, Emery once again finds every finger pointed at her. To clear her name, Emery must revisit the events of that night twelve years ago, unearthing truths about her past with help from the ghosts she resurrects along the way -- including the best friend she thought she’d lost for forever.