Twenty-One Trees is a sweet but, at times, very sad story by Linda Cousine about Savannah and Birdy. Savannah wakes up in a hospital with disassociative amnesia after falling from a ladder, unable to remember the last seven years – including marrying her best friend Birdy or the birth of their four children. Savannah thinks that she is still twenty-years-old, living with her wealthy family, dating Bobby Lee, and the recent winner of a pageant. After Birdy brings Savannah home, things quickly begin to unravel, but Savannah fights to put everything back together again.
The unique and interesting theme in this novel was not only that Savannah didn’t remember her life with Birdy and their children, but she slowly realizes that it wasn’t a happy marriage. Instead, Savannah was plagued by depression and the reasons that she and Birdy married in the first place. Savannah impressed me in how quickly she grew fond of tried to care for her children despite having no memory of who they were. Unfortunately, she was unable to come to terms with the life her and Birdy lived. The plain house, the old beat-up truck, old and often homemade clothing. Savannah was stuck in her twenty-year-old mind and wanted that lifestyle back.
I truly felt sorry for Birdy who was busting his butt trying to keep his family together and take care of his children, until some secrets of his own came out. I was frustrated with the secrets but also frustrated with his unwillingness to live a better lifestyle – thanks to Savannah’s trust fund. His association of money with pain drove a huge wedge between them, just as Savannah’s unwillingness to let the money go also drove a wedge between them. Luckily since Savannah still considered Birdy her best friend from childhood, she managed to keep the lines of communication open between them being direct and honest.
Twenty-One Trees was really a fantastic novel and once you realize the significance of the title, I promise that your heart will melt. Although there are numerous tissue-worthy moments, this novel left me with a warm, fuzzy feeling. Birdy and Savannah renewed my faith in love and commitment between two people and their’s is a story I won’t soon forget!