Madapple by Christina Meldrum – Off the beaten path coming of age story involving an odd young woman and a trial involving multiple murders. Aslaug Hellig has been raised and home schooled in isolation by her Danish mother Maren. She grows remarkably knowledgeable about the natural world and literature. She has only the views of her mother about the outside world. Her mother dies of cancer. A neighbor witnesses Aslaug digging a grave for the body in her back yard and notifies the police. “They’ve charged me with what they call abuse of a corpse. To clean Mother, bury her, bless her, was to abuse her, they tell me. And now they are cutting her up.” Aslaug flees to a nearby town to live with her aunt Sara and two cousins Susanne (called Sanne) and Rune. Aslaug becomes pregnant – but because of her state of mind doesn’t realize who the father is. Sara and Sanne are later found dead inside their burned church. At the trial, the prosecution tries to link Aslaug with the Jimson weed (madapple) found in their bodies and Maren’s, as well as the fire. The defense team point to reasons for Aslaug’s behavior. The alternating “trial” chapters are realistic.

More at play here are Aslaug’s sense of reality clashing with societal norms.
This very well written page turner is awash with literary and religious allusions; It even includes a bibliography.

Excellent read! I found the book to be above the fray in young adult literature.