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1-Page Summary of Sycamore Row
Overall Summary
Sycamore Row is a novel by John Grisham. It follows Jake Brigance, a fictional lawyer who was popular in A Time to Kill (1989). The legal thriller focuses on the South and practicing law. It also has great characterization of characters. The book was praised for its accuracy and for bringing back a popular character after nearly 25 years.
The themes of “A Time to Kill” include southern culture, racism in the 1980s, deception, and forgiveness. It is written from a third-person point of view. The book begins with Seth Hubbard choosing to end his life by hanging himself on a sycamore tree in Clanton, Mississippi.
Seth has been saving money for years, and now he’s a millionaire. He leaves his fortune to Letitia Lang, who took care of him in the last few years of his life. However, Seth wrote the will just before he died; so there is going to be a debate about whether or not it’s legal.
The narrator shows that Seth’s family is a bunch of jerks. They’re loud, mean and racist in their own way. They only care about money and don’t really love him for who he is or what he does.
Seth expected his family to oppose the will, so he sent it to Jake Brigance. He is happy that his children would be falsely mourning him and not knowing they’ve been cut from the will.
Jake Brigance is a charming lawyer who has won cases that no one else thought he could. He had to rebuild his home after the Carl Lee Hailey case, but now he’s back and ready to try another big case.
When Seth’s daughter and sons were young, he wrote two wills that left most of his money to them. He even had other people witness the will so they could prove it was real if necessary. However, now he has changed his mind and decided to leave 90% of his fortune to Lettie (around 20 million dollars), 5% to a long-lost brother in Alaska, and another 5% for charity.
To win the case, Jake decides to avoid mentioning race. The jury would be mostly white and he wants them to focus on the case rather than Seth Hubbard’s will. He’ll argue that Seth Hubbard was rich and could give his money away if he wanted to. However, after Lettie’s husband gets into a car accident and kills two teenagers, everything changes.
The defendant, Jake Brigance, is supported by two outsiders: Harry Rex (a divorce attorney) and Lucien (a disgraced attorney). They help him see things in new ways. In cross-examination, he exposes Seth’s children for not caring about their father because they rarely visited him during his last three years of life.
The prosecution then calls two witnesses. One hints that Lettie changed the will to get Seth to have sex with her; the other claims she had a plan to take advantage of old people. It looks like Jake isn’t going to win this case.
Lucien travels to Juno, Alaska, to convince Seth Hubbard’s long-lost brother Ancil to return to Clanton and testify for Lettie. He left at 17 and vowed never to return because he was angry with his father. However, Lucien tells him that if he doesn’t come back and testify for Lettie then she may not get the money from her husband’s estate.
Seth Hubbard’s testimony at the trial is recorded. It turns out that Seth and Ancil’s grandfather, Cleon Hubbard, stole land from Lettie’s unknown grandfather, Sylvester. Cleon had Sylvester lynched on a tree and then burned down his houses so he could take over his property.
The judge found Seth Hubbard’s will to be valid. His children appealed, but the judge ruled in favor of Lettie and her family. The judge also awarded a small amount of money to Lettie’s children with the rest going towards their college education. Ancil finally returned home after being away for so long and had an emotional reconciliation with his wife and daughter.
