The Family Tree
by Sheri S. Tepper

Description:
As a police officer, Dora must investigate the bizarre, seemingly unrelated murders of three geneticists. In the course of her inquiry, however, it becomes clear that the scientists were killed by the same person, for reasons that are frustratingly obscure. Meanwhile, strange things are happening everywhere Dora turns: weeds are becoming trees, trees becoming forests, a city is transformed almost overnight into a wild and verdant place inhospitable to what humankind has become. Within days, Dora's hometown has come to a veritable standstill as the thoroughfares are choked by foliage, and its citizens are forced to employ bygone means of transport and communication - walking and talking. But stranger still, Dora discovers that she herself can somehow communicate with the rampaging flora - and is, therefore, perhaps the only person presently living who holds the key to averting an unthinkable catastrophe to human life. As Dora tracks the elusive murderer, the mystery of the trees begins to unravel as well. For the two seemingly disparate events are intertwined, much like the branches of an oak. And, as Dora gets closer to the truth, she comes to realize that the answer she seeks today may lie in the future - a future which is much closer than anyone dares think.