The Ghost Tree

Lauren and Miranda have been best friends forever. Every day one would say, "Meet me by the old ghost-tree" and they would have adventures together. But now Miranda only likes boys, and Lauren's father was found in the woods with his heart torn out, and no one was ever caught. So when Lauren has a vision of a monster dragging human remains through the woods, she knows she can't just do nothing.

Rachel finds a hidden prison cell in the basement of her new house. Who was kept there and why?Thomas has a job watching a woman trapped in a room. Is she in danger? And are the messages she's sending meant for him?Wally keeps getting deliveries, each more horrific and dangerous than the last. Who's behind it, and what do they want from him?Justin has found the Ghost Tree, and in doing so, he's lost everything. How far will he go to reclaim his life? His soul?This novel of intersecting lives and times and worlds answers all of these questions and more. Read what has been called "powerful and beautiful", "absolutely incredible", "unpredictable" and "amazing". Brandon Faircloth's latest book is filled with horror and suspense that takes the reader at a breathtaking pace through many twists and turns before reaching an ending that is both moving and terrifying.

Before you follow the path into your family’s history, beware of the secrets you may find... The new novel from the Sunday Times bestselling author.

"LaTanya McQueen's When The Reckoning Comes is so deliciously uncomfortable there were moments where I had to put the book down, take a deep breath, and like Mira, its protagonist, urge myself to go further. This is a novel, like Octavia Butler's Kindred, that reminds its readers that as long as people don't acknowledge how much of the past still shapes the present, it will bring its whips, its hatchets, and fists to make us learn." — Megan Giddings, author of Lakewood A haunting novel about a black woman who returns to her hometown for a plantation wedding and the horror that ensues as she reconnects with the blood-soaked history of the land and the best friends she left behind. More than a decade ago, Mira fled her small, segregated hometown in the south to forget. With every mile she traveled, she distanced herself from her past: from her best friend Celine, mocked by their town as the only white girl with black friends; from her old neighborhood; from the eerie Woodsman plantation rumored to be haunted by the spirits of slaves; from the terrifying memory of a ghost she saw that terrible day when a dare-gone-wrong almost got Jesse—the boy she secretly loved—arrested for murder. But now Mira is back in Kipsen to attend Celine’s wedding at the plantation, which has been transformed into a lush vacation resort. Mira hopes to reconnect with her friends, and especially, Jesse, to finally tell him the truth about her feelings and the events of that devastating long-ago day. But for all its fancy renovations, the Woodsman remains a monument to its oppressive racist history. The bar serves antebellum drinks, entertainment includes horrifying reenactments, and the service staff is nearly all black. Yet the darkest elements of the plantation’s past have been carefully erased—rumors that slaves were tortured mercilessly and that ghosts roam the lands, seeking vengeance on the descendants of those who tormented them, which includes most of the wedding guests. As the weekend unfolds, Mira, Jesse, and Celine are forced to acknowledge their history together, and to save themselves from what is to come.

A touching graphic novel about love, loss, and how the past never truly stays dead. Seeking a refuge from an unhappy life, Brandt returns to his ancestral home in Japan to find a haunted tree and the departed souls that are drawn to it, including his grandfather. Getting more involved with the tree's inhabitants, he attempts to heal some of history's wounds but will he be able to find a measure of peace for himself when someone special from his past returns?

"A joyous hymn to the urban wild." Patrick Barkham Even in the brick and concrete heart of our cities, nature finds a way. Birds and mammals, insects, plants and trees – they all manage to thrive in the urban jungle, and Bob Gilbert is their champion and their chronicler. He explores the hidden wildlife of the inner city and its edgelands, finding unexpected beauty in the cracks and crannies, and uncovering the deep and essential relationship that exists between people and nature when they are bound together in such close proximity. Beginning from Poplar, the East End area in which he lives, Bob explores, in particular, our relationship with the trees that have helped shape London; from the original wildwood through to the street trees of today. He draws from history and natural history, poetry and painting, myth and magic, and a great deal of walking, observing and listening. Beautifully written, passionate and defiant, Ghost Trees tells the secrets and stories of the urban wildscape, of glorious nature resilient and resurgent on our very doorsteps. ‘Full of deep truths and improbable marvels, this beautifully observed book is a joyous hymn to the urban wild and a clarion call for better – greener, wilder – cities.' Patrick Barkham, natural history writer Praise for Bob Gilbert's The Green London Way: ‘More than ever now, as edgeland becomes a value to be fought over, we need the sanity and the calm informative voice of walkers like Bob Gilbert. This is more than an elegy, it's an inspiration: open your eyes, see what is there and not what you are told is there.' Iain Sinclair

Walking down a dark lonely road on an errand one night, a brother and sister argue over who is afraid of the dread Ghost-Eye tree.

"For as long as anyone can remember, the children of Isle Labbe have been warned to stay out of the Catahoula Swamp. It was not because of the giant alligators that would love nothing better than to make you their next meal, or the water moccasins that wait with venomous fangs, ready to strike the minute their territory is invaded, but because folks believe that children who enter that swamp never return." Cajun singer-songwriter Yvette Landry's first children's story, The Ghost Tree, calls forth her childhood experiences along the swamps of South Louisiana. The story begins in her ancestral home, the small, somewhat isolated community of Isle Labbé and ends in the swamps of the Atchafalaya Basin. Her grandfather tells her of an ancient Native American legend ... a cursed tree that comes to life every Halloween. Unlucky travelers who stumble across the tree on that fateful night are never seen again. He would know: after all, he's the only one ever to survive an encounter with ... the Ghost Tree.