Family Tree. Susan Wiggs

Published: William Morrow
Date: August 9th 2016
Format:
Pages: 368
Genre: Women's Fiction
Source: Publisher via Edelweiss
Rating:
              

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.

It is always with a sense of delight that I pick up a new book by an author whose books I have always enjoyed. This one was like sinking down into a warm cozy bath on a cold day. It was almost everything I love in a good book.

Annie is a wonderful character, going for her dreams but finding that things haven't worked out quite the way she thought. Her partner and husband Martin just might not be the best thing going for her. When an unusual accident lands her in a coma in hospital his narcissistic self does what he does best, looks after Martin.

Annie's family are wonderful although not perfect. She has a Gran she idolised and loved - and although no longer alive she lives on in Annie. Annie's parents divorced when she was about ten years old and she has never quite gotten over her father walking out on his family. She sees her mother with a talent as an artist who has never fulfilled her dreams. She stayed back from going on to develop her abilities - choosing instead to care for her family.  Yet when Annie is down it is family who stands by her.

Fletcher is a person who has put his roots down in Switchback. He and Annie go way back, have loved each other and parted. Annie's desire to spread her wings and follow her dreams have meant they have had to part. Now with Annie back in town there is a possible second chance.

As Annie recovers from  injuries sustained in a freak accident she is determined and feisty. However she must start from scratch and discover who she is now and what she wants to do. It takes awhile but the journey just endeared her to me and I was delighted by all the steps she takes. 

The only thing I didn't like about the book was the Now/Then part of the storytelling. I'd be immersed in the now, and then would be taken back into the past. Necessary but just something I don't particularly like. I prefer a linear story. But I guess I'd be in the minority and the telling of a story just might have needed it.

One of those books I just want to go on forever!