Family Tree by Susan Wiggs – a Review

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Description:
Sometimes the greatest dream starts with the smallest element. A single cell, joining with another. And then dividing. And just like that, the world changes.

Annie Harlow knows how lucky she is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Manhattan home they share. And now, she’s pregnant with their first child.

But in an instant, her life is shattered. And when Annie awakes from a year-long coma, she discovers that time isn’t the only thing she’s lost.

Grieving and wounded, Annie retreats to her old family home in Switchback, Vermont, a maple farm generations old. There, surrounded by her free-spirited brother, their divorced mother, and four young nieces and nephews, Annie slowly emerges into a world she left behind years ago: the town where she grew up, the people she knew before, the high-school boyfriend turned ex-cop. And with the discovery of a cookbook her grandmother wrote in the distant past, Annie unearths an age-old mystery that might prove the salvation of the family farm.

Family Tree is the story of one woman’s triumph over betrayal, and how she eventually comes to terms with her past. It is the story of joys unrealized and opportunities regained. Complex, clear-eyed and big-hearted, funny, sad, and wise, it is a novel to cherish and to remember.

Review:

Family Tree by Susan Wiggs is a standalone contemporary fiction novel.  We meet our heroine, Annie Rush immediately, as she is a successful producer of her own cooking show and happily married to Martin, who is the star of the show.  Annie discovers to her surprise that she is pregnant, and hurries to the studio to tell Martin the news.  At this point, Annie’s life is about to change.  Much to her dismay, she finds Martin with another woman, and when she runs away, a scaffolding accident will put her into a coma for one year.  When Annie awakens, she has a hard time focusing and remembers very little; she learns that she is back home in Vermont, in a hospital with her family surrounding her.

What follows is Annie’s road to recovery, starting with therapy to teach her body to learn how to do the basic functions again.  Annie confusion is partially due to memory loss, which will slowly return.  In the beginning she has no memory of Martin or her life in L.A.   Annie did have dreams while in her coma of her younger days in Vermont, especially the man she loved, Fletcher.  The story goes back and forth in flashbacks between the days when she was with Fletcher and doing a cooking video thesis, and current day. Family Tree is a story of survival, love, family and betrayal, as Annie tries to restart her life.

Fletcher was a great hero, having never forgotten Annie.  When he visits her in the hospital, she immediately remembers Fletcher, and slowly the romance between will begin. For now they remain just friends.   In her flashbacks, we learn that Fletcher, who was poor, decided that he could not keep up with Annie, and distanced himself.  Especially after a tragic accident with his father, which forced him to stay home.  We also watch in flashbacks how Fletcher learned from helping his father many legal aspects, which changed the direction of his life. In the current time Fletcher is now a successful Judge and wealthy.  Life has changed for both of them.

As Annie memory returns, she learns of Martin’s divorce, the loss of her child and her creation, the cooking show. But Annie’s family will be there for her every step of the way, as will Fletcher, bringing her back to her roots and changing her life for the better.  Once Annie is fully recovered, she will step up to get back what is hers, but with the help of her family and her true love.  Family Tree was excellent and well written story that focuses love, loss, betrayal and second chances.

Reviewed by Barb

Copy provided by Publisher