From the acclaimed author of The Boatman's Daughter, a gripping, achingly atmospheric tale about the horrors that lurk in the dark corners of family history. And a young woman striving to break free of that tragic past. Nellie Gardner is looking for a way out of an abusive marriage when she learns that her long-lost grandfather, August Redfern, has willed her his turpentine estate. She throws everything she can think of into a bag and flees to Georgia with her eleven-year-old son, Max, in tow. The "estate" turns out to be a decrepit farmhouse on a thousand acres of old pine forest, but Nellie is thrilled about the chance for a fresh start for her and Max, and a chance for the happy home she never had. So it takes her a while to notice the strange scratching in the walls, the faint whispering at night, how the forest is eerily quiet. But Max sees what his mother can't: there's something wrong with Redfern Hill. Something lurks beneath the soil, ancient and hungry, with the power to corrupt hearts and destroy souls. A kingdom of grief and death, to which Nellies own blood has granted her the key. Andy Davidson's gorgeous, Gothic fable tracing the spectacular fall of the Redfern family will haunt you long after you turn the final page.