Winter Garden

Wow... just wow! In my quest to read all of Kristin Hannah's books, I purchased WINTER GARDEN as the next one to be devoured. And devoured it was.

Two sisters, Meredith and Nina, different as night and day, must connect with their distant mother, Anya, when their father, the family glue, dies. It would be easier to connect with a fence post. Both daughters in their 40s, have never seen their mother smile or received a hug from her. The only comfort she ever gave them came in the form of a Russian fairytale. Somehow, when she relays the story of a prince and a peasant girl in Leningrad, all the emotion and goodness missing from their every day exchanges falls away.

I'm not one to read a lot of historical fiction but this lesson wrapped in a novel isn't to be missed. How the daughters relate to their mother directly affects their relationships to their significant others (Meredith's husband, Nina's lover). It seems their mother's cold exterior has transferred to both daughters, crippling their ability to commit and communicate.

The saga of how the daughters delve into their mother's past, what they learn, and how it affects them both is a history lesson and a life lesson. READ THIS BOOK TODAY!