Aldane Manor is an ancient home of low-beamed ceilings, crumbling walls, poison gardens, and deadly secrets.

When Alrick Aldane returns to his family's house, he expects to simply inherit his father's land and title.

Instead, he discovers that he is also heir to the property's disturbing history--one full of witchcraft--and a ghostly mystery that could condemn him to a fate worse than death.

"In The Atropine Tree, Sarah Read is a magician who combines Gothic horror, Victorian surgery, ghosts, plague, a dysfunctional family, a crumbling estate, alchemy and a secret garden into a single heady elixir. With its lush prose and growing dread, The Atropine Tree is a dark literary marvel."

-- Lisa Morton, author of Calling the Spirits: A History of Seances and The Castle of Los Angeles