What We Found Under The Orchard

Some secrets refuse to stay buried.

Beatrice Caldwell thought she was just renovating an old orchard in rural North Carolina to build a quiet inn. But when the dead apple trees are pulled from the red clay, the excavation reveals a horrifying pattern: twelve battered suitcases buried deep within the roots. Each case belongs to a different woman. Each contains clothes, toiletries, and a cryptic departure letter. And the dates span almost forty years.

As Beatrice desperately tries to uncover the truth without drawing the attention of local law enforcement, she discovers a thirteenth hole. It is freshly dug, completely empty, and marked with a tag bearing her true birth name—a name her mother, Lorraine, has kept hidden from her for thirty-two years.

Forced to confront the architect of her entire existence, Beatrice realizes that the mother who saved her might also be the one keeping her trapped inside a carefully constructed cage of financial control and fabricated history. To survive, Beatrice must strip her life down to the studs and unearth the devastating truth about her father, her identity, and the underground network of women who walked the orchard road.