The Suffering Tree

Description

Tori Burns and her family left D.C. for claustrophobic Chaptico, Maryland, after suddenly inheriting a house under mysterious circumstances. That inheritance puts her at odds with the entire town, especially Jesse Slaughter and his family-it's their generations-old land the Burns have "stolen." As the suspicious looks and muttered accusations of her neighbors build, so does the pressure inside her, and Tori returns to the pattern of self-harm that landed her in a hospital back in D.C. It all comes to a head one night when, to Tori's shock, she witnesses a young man claw his way out of a grave under the gnarled oak in her new backyard. Nathaniel Bishop may not understand what brought him back, but it's clear to Tori that he hates the Slaughters for what they did to him centuries ago. Wary yet drawn to him by a shared sense of loss, she gives him shelter. But in the wake of his arrival comes a string of troubling events-including the disappearance of Jesse Slaughter's cousin-that seem to point back to Nathaniel. As Tori digs for the truth-and slowly begins to fall for Nathaniel-she uncovers something much darker in the tangled branches of the Slaughter family tree. In order to break the curse that binds Nathaniel there and discover the true nature of her inheritance, Tori must unravel the Slaughter family's oldest and most guarded secrets. But the Slaughters want to keep them buried... at any cost.

Elle Cosimano grew up in the Washington, D.C., suburbs, the daughter of a maximum security prison warden and an elementary school teacher who rode a Harley. As a teen, she spent summers working on a fishing boat in the Chesapeake Bay. A failed student of the hard sciences, she discovered her true calling in social and behavioral studies while majoring in psychology at St. Mary's College of Maryland. Fifteen years later, Elle set aside a successful real-estate career to pursue writing. Her debut novel, Nearly Gone, was an Edgar Award Finalist, winner of the International Thriller Writers' Best Young Adult Novel Award, and winner of the inaugural Mathical Book Award recognizing mathematics in children's literature. Elle lives with her husband and two sons in Mexico, somewhere between the jungle and the sea. Website: www.ellecosimano.com. Twitter:@ellecosimano.

"The Suffering Tree is a haunting thriller...[that] will entice those who have read works by Brenna Yovanoff, Michelle Hodkin's Mara Dyer trilogy, or Laura Ruby's Bone Gap."--VOYA "Cosimano's story is rich in historical detail and eerie atmosphere."--Publishers Weekly "Deliciously unpredictable...This is a compelling exploration of how roots twisted in cruelty affect a family tree for generations to come."--The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books "Riveting... A dark mixture of mystery, history, romance, and fantasy."--Kirkus Reviews "Spellbinding and haunting . . . Cosimano weaves a riveting tale of secrets, dark magic, love, and revenge. Part history, part paranormal mystery, and part modern-day thriller, The Suffering Tree hooked me from the moment Nathaniel Bishop climbed out of his grave."--Cat Winters, award-winning author of In the Shadow of Blackbirds