Husbandry

Imaginative Miranda wonders if keen herbalist Lizzie's late husband, Jeffrey, really died a natural death. The trees standing above his scattered ashes are rumoured to be ailing, and now a developer wants to uproot them. Miranda's ditzy unorthodox ways of trying to trip her acerbic childhood friend into revealing what really may have happened to Jeffrey, seed psychological reactions that germinate unintended new rivalries - at grave risk. Can the trees be saved without unwelcome attention to their 'guest'; and who is really leading whom up what garden path? Something is troubling the women's once-reliable mutual friend Freddie, whose grip on reality starts slipping. While the trio slyly mislead one another, and themselves, others - including the developer - have tangled, hidden personal agendas too. New relationships form where old hopes and mistaken assumptions are disrupted. As jealousies grow in the gaps, and bruised feelings harden, revised ambitions let deadlier intentions take root. Miranda will need all her wit and resourcefulness to field what follows.