Summarize The Lie Tree in 200 words

BookRags has complete plot summary readily available for your use in its Study pack for the unit. Below, you will find the first two paragraphs of the summary.

Faith Sunderly arrives in Vane with her parents, Erasmus and Myrtle, her younger brother Howard, and her Uncle Miles. Faith quickly learns that the family trip was not just a chance to accompany Erasmus on one of his archaeological digs. It is an effort to outrun the scandal that is threatening her family's social standing and her father's standing as an expert in the natural science field. When Faith is forced to admit to Erasmus that she had gone through his letters, her father is furious and makes it clear that a daughter is worthless to a family. In an abrupt change, he asks Faith to help him make a dangerous trip by rowboat to a cave. Faith rushes to do his bidding, though she knows their lives are in danger during the trip. Erasmus leaves a mysterious plant in the cave and asks Faith for another favor. She is to hide the fact that she was out of the house with him and say they talked in his study until after midnight. Erasmus then leaves again, and Faith rushes to cover all signs of her nighttime activities.

The next morning, Faith learns that Erasmus never returned. She finds his body in a tree, and it seems that he might have jumped from the cliff to his death. Myrtle rushes to hide the possibility that Erasmus committed suicide because she knows they will forfeit all his money, leaving the family destitute with no way to survive. Faith believes Erasmus was murdered, and she quickly gathers his personal papers in the hope of finding out who killed him and why.