From the #1 New York Times bestselling author comes a powerful, emotionally complex story of love, loss, the pain of the past—and the promise of the future.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 … is. The producer of a popular television cooking show, she loves her handsome husband and the beautiful Los Angeles 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 yearlong 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 judge. 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.
more
A lovely example of women’s fiction – exactly the kind of book I was looking for. I liked how the story flowed back and forth from current events and backstory. As Annie recovers from the coma and head injury she suffers, the reader is right with her, hoping she’ll remember her life and figure out how to move on. All of the principle characters were fully fleshed out, and I enjoyed being in the little town in Vermont with them for a while. A lot of this book centers around food, and Wiggs does an amazing job of tantalizing the reader with descriptions of gourmet dishes and delicious sounding beverages. I’m not even that big of a fan of maple, but the book made me long for some real syrup. No kidding. I listened to the audiobook for this, and the narrator also had a gorgeous way of even saying the word “food”. My only criticism is that I didn’t love the way the narrator did male voices. I enjoyed the book very much and look forward to more of this author’s work.
Because I like Susan Wiggs books so much I grabbed this book with out knowing what it was about. I assumed that it was about Genealogy and it isn’t…it’s about the family maple farm. I was surprised and she makes a good read every time.
I already follower and know what books she has out for use to read now.
This is the story of Annie and Fletcher. Two people who couldn’t quite get the timing right for their relationship. They met when Fletcher moved to Annie’s small town in Vermont. There was an immediate attraction, but family problems and life long dreams continually got in the way of them being together for more than a few months.
Annie’s life long passion was cooking and having her own TV show. She grew up in Vermont on a family maple syrup farm – helping all winter long with making and bottling syrup for their company Sugar Rush. Fletcher and his dad move to town where his dad takes over a local mechanic’s business. He is hired by Annie’s older brother to work at the Maple farm, and he is quickly smitted with her. Annie has dreams of college and life beyond Switchback Vermont, but money and family obligations keep Fletcher there. They end their relationship when Fletcher’s dad is in a horrible accident and Fletcher has no time for anything but keeping his dad’s business together and helping his dad recover.
The book flows back and forth between Annie and Fletcher has teenagers and then into the near future when Annie is forced back to Switchback after spending years in LA. Her own accident has brought her back to the care of her family and back into Fletcher’s life. As she recovers, she needs to decide if what she had in LA or what she has in Vermont is what she really wants.
This was an okay book. Here in Switzerland, the Christmas season is in full swing. So I have started watching cheesy Christmas movies from the Hallmark channel and Netflix – an annual tradition. This book reminds me of those movies. This book reminded me of those movies. A quaint little town brings girl back to where her roots were. A long lost love that is rekindled. A perfect life and perfect love and perfect everything is what this book is about. It is just as cheesy as the movies.
It is a quick read, and not solid work, but was kind of fun in its own right. I would not say to run out and read this one, but, if you have a few days as the snow starts to fall and you are looking for something light and mindless – this might hit the spot.
Wow The h comes out of a coma after a year to find her entire world has changed. This is the story of how she copes with the changes and makes a new life for herself.
I have read over 30 of Susan Wiggs books and this just might be the best of the lot. Wonderful story. Heartfelt, rich, endearing.
She is one of my favorite authors
I have enjoyed all of Susan Wiggs books about family and this was no exception. I learned alot about brain damage & recovery reading this. Besides being a story about being true to yourself, it was an interesting sort of love story with family interaction involved. Also hit on how childhood problems take a toll in adulthood. I cried off and on all during the book, sometimes happy tears.
One of the most well written books I’ve read… you get deeply involved with the characters.
An interesting book giving some insight into what it would be like to have a head injury and be comatose for a while and then have memories slowly return. Also makes one think about the decisions they made as a teen and how life may have been different if they made different choices. Lots of things to think about!
Annie Rush is a small town girl from Switchback, Vermont, who wants it all out of life. She doggedly pursues Family, food, fortune, life, home, and love… though not necessarily in that order. An encouraging read and quite inspiring!
This book was well written, interesting, entertaining, I didn’t want to put it down. The characters relationships were good. I enjoy Susan Wifgs style of writing.
I LOVED IT
Typical good Susan Wiggs novel. One of my favorite authors.
I found the story to be a little predictable-but it was an entertaining, satisfying read while I recovered from surgery.
Total enjoyment
The book was OK good, not wow that was great good. I got tired of the constant back story and felt there were a couple of issues that were glossed over. Her losing her baby due to the accident was the main issue as well as her previous relationship.
I loved this story. The setting was vividly described and I could see myself visiting this maple farm in New England. The characters were well developed and the story line interesting. This is a great novel for a relaxing read.
Favorite Quotes:
It was one of those moments Gran used to call a key moment. Time didn’t simply tick past, unremarked, unnoticed. No, this was the kind of moment that made everything stop. You separated it from every other one, pressing the feeling to your heart, like a dried flower slipped between the pages of a beloved book. The moment was made of something fragile and delicate, yet it possessed the power to last forever.
Memories are strange things, aren’t they? You can’t touch them and hold them in your hands, but they have incredible power.
That’s the moment when everything changes. There’s before, and then after. And once a key moment occurs, there’s no going back to before. You make a choice, and it’s like ringing a bell. You can’t unring it. A key moment is a feeling. Your heart tells you. The point is, you have to pay attention.
That was how love worked sometimes… It filled every nook and cranny of your heart, and then one day you realized it had gone away. She wondered where those feelings went. Maybe they trickled into the atmosphere to be inhaled by someone else, a stranger who suddenly saw someone across the room and instantly fell I love.
My Review:
This was my first experience enjoying Ms. Wigg’s amusing and dynamic storytelling and I immediately became an instant and ravenous fan. I adored her quirky characters, clever humor, and insightful narrative. Her storylines were poignant, entertaining, heart squeezing, intriguing, and thoughtfully written. The descriptive detail of her food preparations played havoc with my diet plan, ultimately causing me to run to the farmers market for my own fresh ingredients from her spark of culinary creativity. Her skillful wordcraft was a delight for all the senses and I doubt I could ever tire of feasting on her works.
I am a fan of Susan Wiggs, and this book did not disappoint. It is a story of following your dreams, love lost and found, and starting over. Those things happened on many levels in this story with different characters. The main character is Annie. We follow her as she grows up on her family farm where they make maple syrup and learns to cook with her grandmother. She also meets the love of her life. Then she heads to LA after college to create and produce a cooking show. After a terrible accident she loses everything. She returns home to Vermont and slowly begins to rebuild her life.
Susan Wiggs is a master storyteller and treats her stories realistically, with respect, compassion, and hope. I always walk away from one of her books with a positive feeling and a sense of satisfaction. If you enjoy a story about a family who works together to “do life” and enjoy a happy ending, then I definitely recommend this book for you!