The Lie Tree

Faith Sunderly's father, a naturalist, dies under unclear circumstances, and she is left with his notebooks and the questions he never answered. Among his papers she finds sketches of an unfamiliar plant, one he had been trying to understand for years. Its leaves are cold and damp, and it is said to be fed by whispered falsehoods.

The tree, she learns, produces fruit that exposes secrets people would rather keep hidden. Faith decides to use it to uncover what really happened to her father, though the search throws her own deceptions into a harder and more dangerous place than she expected. The story is set in Victorian England, against a backdrop of scientific rivalry and social expectations.

As her lies grow harder to control, Faith begins to see that a falsehood can draw people in as easily as a truth can drive them away.