The Upas Tree

Torn between a safe but unhappy life and jumping headfirst into the unknown…

Meek Scottish spinster Ishbel Mackintosh has never had much get up and go about her, sacrificing a fulfilling life to work in the family shop and take care of her demanding mother’s every need. Held back for a lifetime by her clergyman grandfather’s warnings, she’s never given a moment’s thought to herself.

But when her mother dies on Christmas Day, Ishbel suddenly finds herself without a burden in the world – and a nice inheritance to sweeten the deal. Free for the first time in her life, she begins to spend time with the new gardener, Ian, and is finally able to quieten her grandfather’s cautions about fleshly pleasures in her head. But when Ian turns out not to be the man she thought he was, her thoughts turn to revenge. Set in the wild and rough beauty of the Scottish Highlands, The Upas Tree is a tale of regret, absolution and hope.


‘Eva Hanagan tells a story of supernatural evil with such quiet conviction and sets it in such pleasing rural domesticity that its full force only slowly pervades the reader’s consciousness. When it does it is absolute…’ - British Book News

‘Eva Hanagan writes with an easy and natural grace which gives to the life of her recluse an evocative, unforced descriptiveness of an impressive order’ - Scotsman

‘Mrs Hanagan is good at uneasy states of mind and feelings, and very good at the temptations of suicide … an accomplished beginning’ - Guardian

‘Between the covers of this book is a really thrilling story … It should restore to many a reader his faith in the pleasure of reading for reading’s sake’ - West Sussex County Times

‘So beautifully and precisely visualised that I too was enthralled … a delicious piece of water-colour Gothic’ - Daily Telegraph

Eva Hanagan was a Scottish author. Her novels include Playmates, In Thrall and A Knock at the Door .