Tree of Heaven — Eleanor Sullivan

Greed, rejection, and revenge visit an unsuspecting 1833 Ohio village, bringing murder in their wake.

Adelaide, a young midwife in an 1833 Ohio village, overhears a stranger charge Josef, the town's autocratic leader, with fraud. The next day the stranger is found murdered, and soon the sheriff arrives to arrest Josef. Without Josef there telling the villagers what to do, chaos ensues. Adelaide's husband, Benjamin, steps forward to lead the village. He soon discovers that Josef holds the deed to all the town's property in his own name. Should Josef be hanged, the villagers would lose their homes, their lands, their livelihoods. Resolved to find the killer before Josef is sent to the gallows and their town is lost, Adelaide pursues the truth even if she puts her own life--and that of her unborn child--in jeopardy.