Ironwood — Jennie Melville

I stood there, frozen quite unable to say a word. A window on a new world had opened to me. All the time I had been going about my life, cooking, choosing clothes, getting my hair washed, this wall of suspicion had been building up all around me. Without my knowing it, people had been considering me, weighing me up and finally concluding I could be a poisoner…

Anna knew she was innocent. Others were not so certain. And someone in particular wanted to destroy her.

But it wasn't until the night of the fire in her cottage that she realized someone wanted her out of the way.

So she fled to Ironwood, her childhood home.

But even there, there was no shelter. The one she most trusted was the person she had to fear.