Winter Garden
Ratings22
Average rating3.9
15
Ratings22
Average rating3.9
Can a woman ever really know herself if she doesn’t know her mother?
From the author of the smash-hit bestseller Firefly Lane and True Colors comes a powerful, heartbreaking novel that illuminates the intricate mother-daughter bond and explores the enduring links between the present and the past.
Meredith and Nina Whitson are as different as sisters can be. One stayed at home to raise her children and manage the family apple orchard; the other followed a dream and traveled the world to become a famous photojournalist. But when their beloved father falls ill, Meredith and Nina find themselves together again, standing alongside their cold, disapproving mother, Anya, who even now, offers no comfort to her daughters. As children, the only connection between them was the Russian fairy tale Anya sometimes told the girls at night. On his deathbed, their father extracts a promise from the women in his life: the fairy tale will be told one last time—and all the way to the end. Thus begins an unexpected journey into the truth of Anya’s life in war-torn Leningrad, more than five decades ago. Alternating between the past and present, Meredith and Nina will finally hear the singular, harrowing story of their mother’s life, and what they learn is a secret so terrible and terrifying that it will shake the very foundation of their family and change who they believe they are.
Reviews with the most likes.
Wow, Kristin Hannah has done it again for me. I thought no novel could affect me the way The Nightingale did, but I was wrong. This book is so well-crafted and utterly heart-wrenching. The story line went in a direction I did not anticipate at the start of the novel, in a good way. I thought the plot would be more about the two sisters, Meredith and Nina, who have been damaged by their mother's lack of affection. When they lose their beloved father, they are brought together to fulfill his dying wish for them to hear their mother's Russian fairy tale, which turns into an epic story of their mother's life in Russia during the reign of Joseph Stalin and World War II. Through the telling of Anya's story, the three women learn who each of them really is and who they are as a family.
I absolutely loved this book. Once I got to the middle of the book, I could not put it down. Anya's story of her years in Russia kept me captivated. For the last 100 pages, I was emotionally invested in the outcome. I will admit a few tears were shed during this reading. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that enjoys a family saga mixed with engaging historical fiction. Five star read!
I enjoyed this story and Kristin Hannah never disappoints. It's about 2 sisters who have a rocky relationship with their mother, who is Russian, as she has always been very aloof and frosty with them, although they never understood why. When their father is ill, he makes them promise that they will learn more about their mother and when he passes away they feel they have to keep that promise.
The characters are well developed and the plot is fascinating, my only issue with it is that it seemed to take a long time to get to the “meat” of the story. Once you do, however, it was riveting and heartbreaking.
