Sycamore Row – John Grisham (2013)

Sycamore Row by John Grisham was published in 2013 and is part of the well-known Jake Brigance series, following up on Grisham’s breakout legal thriller A Time to Kill. Set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi, in the late 1980s, the novel explores a high-stakes legal battle over a contested will that surfaces after a wealthy man’s dramatic suicide. The novel revisits themes of racial tension, justice, and moral ambiguity in the Deep South, with a gripping courtroom narrative at its heart.

Plot Summary

They found Seth Hubbard hanging from a sycamore tree on a wet Sunday afternoon in October 1988. The man had planned every detail – the length of the rope, the perfect hangman’s knot, his finest funeral suit, even the placement of a stepladder. A note was left on his kitchen table, declaring his death a suicide and asking for no autopsy. But it was the package that arrived the following Monday morning in attorney Jake Brigance’s mail that stirred the winds in Ford County once again.

Inside the plain envelope lay a handwritten will, dated the day before Seth’s death, cutting out his children, grandchildren, and ex-wives entirely. Ninety percent of the estate, built over years of lumber and land dealings, was left to Lettie Lang, Seth’s Black housekeeper. Five percent was given to a church. Five percent to a long-lost brother, Ancil, whose name no one in town seemed to recall. Jake, still rebuilding his life after defending Carl Lee Hailey three years earlier, was stunned to discover he had been chosen to defend the will and oversee the estate.

The town buzzed. Seth had children – Herschel and Ramona – both stunned and bitter. Neither had visited him in months, nor had they taken any part in his care as he withered from lung cancer. Lettie, meanwhile, had cooked, cleaned, and held his hand through the worst of it. Still, the idea that a white man would leave a fortune to a Black woman sparked whispers that boiled into rage. The Hubbards wasted no time contesting the will, dragging Lettie into court and smearing her with accusations of manipulation, theft, and seduction.

Jake, cautious but determined, knew the terrain was perilous. Lettie wasn’t rich or educated, and in Ford County, many still measured worth by skin color. Her family wasn’t perfect – her husband a wandering drunk, her children far from spotless – but her devotion to Seth had been real. She had no idea he would leave her anything, let alone nearly everything. As Jake pieced together the legal strategy, he faced a storm of pressure from rival lawyers, the Hubbards’ legal team, and the expectations of a town divided by history and race.

Grisham’s courtroom turned into a battlefield, with the opposing side dredging up every bit of Lettie’s past and the ghosts of old Mississippi coming to life. But Jake had something up his sleeve – a name scribbled into the will’s eighth clause: Ancil F. Hubbard. Seth’s brother, presumed dead or vanished. A ghost himself, really. Finding Ancil became urgent, and Jake, with the help of his foul-mouthed friend Harry Rex Vonner and the dogged Lucien Wilbanks, a disbarred yet brilliant legal mind, scoured distant corners of the country.

Ancil was found living under the radar in California, burdened by the memory of a childhood horror. He had never married, never held a steady job, and had long avoided contact with the world. Jake coaxed him gently, offering not just a portion of the inheritance, but a chance to speak the truth that had burned quietly for decades. And when Ancil spoke, the entire courtroom leaned in.

In the dark heart of Ford County’s past lay a crime, one few remembered and fewer spoke of – a white landowner lynched a Black family over a dispute, a child hiding in the woods, seeing it all. Seth had been that child. Lettie’s ancestors had been the victims. Seth’s guilt had never dulled. As he grew older, wealthier, and more reclusive, he remained tethered to that image – a hanging tree, a family slaughtered, and a boy who did nothing.

That truth cracked open the case. The will was no random gesture. It was the only atonement Seth could offer. He had watched Lettie with quiet admiration and deep remorse, finding in her the strength and grace that had been destroyed years before. The court could not ignore the clarity of the man’s wishes, nor the weight of the history behind them.

The judge upheld the handwritten will. Lettie Lang became one of the wealthiest women in Ford County, though she remained humble, rooted, and haunted by what had come to light. Jake had his name cleared of doubt and stood taller in the town that both embraced and tested him. And somewhere far off, Ancil Hubbard found a sliver of peace, the memory shared at last, the burden not entirely his alone.

The sycamore tree still stood, silent and sprawling, its bark white against the Mississippi sky. It had held the weight of one man’s life, and now the secret of his redemption.

Main Characters

• Jake Brigance – A principled and ambitious attorney in Clanton, Jake is the heart of the narrative. Still haunted by the Carl Lee Hailey case, he is thrust into another racially charged legal battle when Seth Hubbard names him executor of a controversial will. Jake’s resilience, moral compass, and passion for justice make him a compelling protagonist.

• Seth Hubbard – A reclusive, wealthy man dying of lung cancer who hangs himself and leaves behind a handwritten will that cuts out his family and leaves most of his fortune to his Black housekeeper. Seth is mysterious in life and death, and the secrets he carried—particularly those from his childhood—are central to the novel’s tension.

• Lettie Lang – Seth’s housekeeper and caretaker, to whom he leaves 90% of his estate. Lettie is proud, hardworking, and bewildered by her sudden role at the center of a legal maelstrom. Her character reflects the social inequities of the South, and her dignity under scrutiny is deeply moving.

• Ozzie Walls – The county sheriff and one of the few Black elected officials in Mississippi at the time. Ozzie is loyal, pragmatic, and deeply aware of the racial undercurrents at play. His past ties with both Seth and Jake provide subtle insights into the town’s shifting dynamics.

• Harry Rex Vonner – Jake’s boisterous, crass, yet deeply loyal friend and fellow attorney. Harry Rex provides both comic relief and courtroom savvy, balancing Jake’s more serious demeanor.

• Herschel and Ramona Hubbard – Seth’s estranged children who are shocked and enraged to be disinherited. Their motivations are largely financial, and their efforts to contest the will expose both personal grievances and broader social prejudices.

• Ancil Hubbard – Seth’s long-lost brother, a tragic figure whose traumatic childhood experience is the linchpin of the novel. His testimony ultimately recontextualizes Seth’s final actions and serves as the emotional and thematic climax of the story.

Theme

• Justice and Injustice: The novel scrutinizes the legal system’s ability to uphold justice, particularly in cases complicated by race and wealth. Jake’s battle in court is not just for Lettie’s inheritance but for a broader principle—honoring a man’s last wishes despite social backlash.

• Racial Injustice and Historical Trauma: Beneath the courtroom drama lies a chilling legacy of racial violence. The truth behind Seth’s actions is rooted in a horrifying act of injustice that he witnessed as a child. This theme gives the narrative emotional gravity and reveals how the past haunts the present.

• The Complexity of Family and Estrangement: The novel portrays strained familial relationships, particularly between Seth and his children. Through flashbacks and testimonies, the story examines how disappointment, resentment, and absence of love erode familial bonds.

• Moral Courage and Integrity: Jake’s character arc highlights the value of standing firm in one’s principles, even when the stakes are high and opposition is fierce. The moral courage he displays in defending the will and Lettie Lang forms the ethical core of the novel.

• Death and Legacy: Seth Hubbard’s suicide and handwritten will spark a reflection on how individuals shape their legacies. The choices he makes in death become a battleground for truth, redemption, and restitution.

Writing Style and Tone

John Grisham’s prose is clean, direct, and highly accessible, favoring clarity over literary flourish. He uses legal terminology and courtroom procedures with precision, yet his writing remains engaging even for readers unfamiliar with legal intricacies. Dialogue is sharp, purposeful, and often infused with regional dialects that root the characters in their Southern setting.

Grisham’s tone is measured and serious, especially as the novel explores themes of racial injustice and moral reckoning. However, he balances the gravity with moments of levity, often delivered through characters like Harry Rex or the town’s gossipy denizens. The pacing builds slowly but steadily, culminating in a powerful courtroom climax. His narrative control ensures that the legal drama never overshadows the emotional core of the story—what one man did with his final breath to try and right a historical wrong.