Family Tree

A Novel

By: Susan Wiggs

Narrated by: Christina Traister

Length: 12 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

From the number one New York Times best-selling 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 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.

©2016 Susan Wiggs (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Starting Over Again

The characters in this novel were redeeming and their struggle is identifiable by many. Childhood family issues can definitely have an impact on adult choices. The development and flow of this story over time gave it credibility. Great read.

Loved it!

Such a warm and sweet story about family, love, success, and new beginnings! Heartwarming. Romantic.

Starting From Scratch

This love story has so many levels. All the characters experience ups and downs, love lost and found again. Most of all Annie and Fletcher. The narrator does a good job but the sound quality is lacking. The male voices are so quiet you have to rewind and turn it up to hear them only to be blasted by the female voices.

Completely lost in the story

A great escape! Lost in the story didn’t want to stop listening. upbeat! nice quotes to remember to brighten your day

Take me to Switchback, VT

Great character development as usual. Great story. Looking forward to next book by her because it seems she never disappoints

a very good book

the book shows that it is never too late to start over and what is really important family.

Perfection In The Kitchen

There isn’t anything that I don’t love about this book. From tragedy, struggle and then finding your passion and loving someone special, it’s all there. You will enjoy the journey. There are a lot of good people in this story.

The way she developed the characters

It was a really good book! We loved it and look forward to listening to another of her books.

Very unique and enjoyable

The author’s writing style is unique and captivating. I loved the story and the characters. The narrator was excellent as well.

FAMILY TREE is a solid 4 ½ stars

There are 3 things that Annie Rush is passionate about - cooking, film making and Fletcher Wyndham the new bad boy in town.

There’s the THEN……
Annie grew up in the Switchback, Vermont, helping with the family’s maple sugar farm, Sugar Rush. Under the guidance of her beloved grandmother Annie learnt a love for cooking. She also had a gift of filming, editing and producing, Annie’s dream is to combines these 2 passions. But then there is Fletcher, the boy that has stolen her heart. Upon graduating from college Annie gets a rare opportunity to relocate to LA to producer her own television cooking show, along with a talented cook that runs a vendor cart in NYC. This is not Fletcher’s dream plus he has his own roadblocks. Knowing that each must go their way to pursue their dreams they part ways .. the beginnings of how their timing was always off.

And there is the NOW …..
When your life is shattered in an instant. Waking up after a yearlong comma Annie discovers she is no longer a producer on her very popular television cooking, divorced from her cooking star husband, has miscarried their child and has been shipped back to Switchback. Surrounded by family and friends, Annie slowing surfaces back to a place left years ago and her high-school love, Judge Wyndham. For Fletcher, Annie is the missing piece to a puzzle he’d been trying for years to complete.

FAMILY TREE is the story of losing everything and one woman's journey to rediscover herself, repossess her life, her dreams and her heart.

I will admit I love these type of books - they are about friends, family, happy endings and yes predictable.. what I call feel good stories that when they end they warm my heart. Sometimes predictable is what one needs. I first discovered Susan Wiggs books back in 2008 when I discovered the Lakeshore Chronicles. I enjoyed her writing style then and 13 years later I still do.

FAMILY TREE is a solid 4 ½ stars for me and I totally enjoyed Christina Traister narration.