Poison Tree

This taut psychological thriller begins when Karen and her nine-year- old daughter, Alice, pick up Rex from a ten-year stint in prison for murder. Flash back to the sultry summer in 1990s London when Karen, a straight-A student on the verge of college graduation, first meets the exotic, flamboyant Biba and joins her louche life in a crumbling mansion in Highgate. She begins a relationship with Biba's enigmatic and protective older brother, Rex, and falls into a blissful rhythm of sex, alcohol, and endless summer nights. Naïvely, Karen assumes her newfound happiness will last forever. But Biba and Rex have a complicated family history-one of abandonment, suicide, and crippling guilt-and Karen's summer of freedom is about to end in blood.

When old ghosts come back to destroy the life it has taken Karen a decade to build, she has everything to lose. She will do whatever it takes to protect her family and keep her secret. Alternating between the fragile present and the lingering past with a shocker of an ending, The Poison Tree is a brilliant suspense debut that will appeal to readers of Kate Atkinson, Donna Tartt, and Tana French.

“A terrific suspense debut, reminiscent of another British woman’s auspicious bow: Daphne DuMaurier’s Rebecca. The shadows gather until the ending looms like a threatening figure. This one gets the writer’s ultimate bit of praise: I wish I had written it.” 

“Everything we love in a thriller—obsessive passion, haunting secrets, a shocking ending—is here, set among the creepily atmospheric ruins of a 16th century English garden."

—O, The Oprah Magazine

“With its rich intertwining of viewpoints and time frames, its nuances of character and class, its sustained suspense . . . this harrowing novel is a work of true talent.”

—Publishers Weekly, starred review

“[Kelly] draws readers in with her compelling stories; then, she dims the lights, darkens the worldview and bolts the exit doors. . . . Its useless to resist: You must read it.”

—Maureen Corrigan, NPR.org

“Erin Kelly has delivered a stunning look at human desperation, loyalty, and absolute terror. . . . First class writing that is absolutely captivating!”

—Suspense Magazine

“Erin Kelly is a seriously good writer, and this gripping novel is her best yet. I really loved it—couldn't put it down!”

—Sophie Hannah

“A terrific suspense debut, reminiscent of another British womans auspicious bow: Daphne DuMauriers Rebecca. The shadows gather until the ending looms like a threatening figure. This one gets the writers ultimate bit of praise: I wish I had written it.”

—Stephen King

“A compelling creeper . . . More please, Ms. Kelly! Quickly!”

—The Washington Post

“There is a brooding sense of impending doom and imminent danger. . . . [T]he explosive ending, its revelations about the threesome and the lengths to which people will go to preserve or take what's theirs, makes THE POISON TREE a rich and satisfying pleasure.”

—USA Today

“Erin Kelly is a seriously good writer, and this gripping novel is her best yet. I really loved it—couldn't put it down!”

—Sophie Hannah

“The Burning Air is a clever, creepy exploration of the deceit hidden even within the most apparently loving of families and the very fine line between justice and revenge. Erin Kelly is brilliant at showing the relentlessness of obsession and the evil that can be done in the name of love.”

—Elizabeth Haynes, author of Into the Darkest Corner

“Tension-filled . . . skillfully drawn characters and masterful building of suspense, which reaches a literally searing climax."

—Publishers Weekly

"A terrific suspense debut, reminiscent of Du Maurier's Rebecca. I wish I had written it."--Stephen King

With its hip London backdrop and expert pacing, Erin Kelly's masterful debut, The Poison Tree, delivers all the way through to its shocker of an ending.

London, 1997. Karen meets exotic, flamboyant Biba and, spellbound, she moves into the crumbling mansion Biba shares with her enigmatic brother, Rex. Drugs and wine flow as Rex and Karen begin an affair, but their summer of freedom is about to end in blood. Ten years later, Karen and nine-year-old Alice pick up Rex from his stint in prison for murder. When old ghosts come calling, Karen will do whatever it takes to protect her family. She is a woman with everything to lose.

Nineteen-year-old Paul sits in a stark interrogation room across from two police officers. What started as petty theft turned into murder; only terror and loyalty keep him silent. Louisa spends her days roaming a crumbling Elizabethan garden—until she meets Paul, who is a dead ringer for her long-lost love. Louisa starts to hope she can find happiness again, but neither of them can outrun his violent past.

The MacBrides lead a cozy life of upper class privilege: good looks (more or less), a beautiful home, tuition-free education at the prestigious private school where Rowan is headmaster, an altruistic righteousness inherited from magistrate Lydia.

But when Rowan and his three grown children gather for the first time since Lydia’s passing at the family’s weekend home—a restored barn in the English countryside—years of secrets surface, and they discover a stranger in their midst. A stranger who is convinced that Lydia was a murderer. A stranger who has been exacting vengeance upon the family for years without their ever knowing. And one who will threaten the youngest MacBride, baby Edie, and the clan’s memory of Lydia, shattering their world forever.

The Burning Air is Erin Kelly's most chilling novel yet­—a novel that fans of Sophie Hannah and Kate Atkinson will find spellbinding.

Nineteen-year-old Paul sits in a stark interrogation room across from two police officers. What started as petty theft turned into murder; only terror and loyalty keep him silent. Louisa spends her days roaming a crumbling Elizabethan garden—until she meets Paul, who is a dead ringer for her long-lost love. Louisa starts to hope she can find happiness again, but neither of them can outrun his violent past.

The MacBrides lead a cozy life of upper class privilege: good looks (more or less), a beautiful home, tuition-free education at the prestigious private school where Rowan is headmaster, an altruistic righteousness inherited from magistrate Lydia.

But when Rowan and his three grown children gather for the first time since Lydia’s passing at the family’s weekend home—a restored barn in the English countryside—years of secrets surface, and they discover a stranger in their midst. A stranger who is convinced that Lydia was a murderer. A stranger who has been exacting vengeance upon the family for years without their ever knowing. And one who will threaten the youngest MacBride, baby Edie, and the clan’s memory of Lydia, shattering their world forever.

The Burning Air is Erin Kelly's most chilling novel yet­—a novel that fans of Sophie Hannah and Kate Atkinson will find spellbinding.

Erin Kelly studied English and European literature at Warwick University and has worked as a freelance journalist for more than ten years. She has written for The Sunday Times, The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Mail, Psychologies, Red, Elle, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, and Glamour. The acclaimed author of The Poison Tree and The Dark Rose. She lives with her family in North London.