Winter Garden
A Novel
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4.5 • 4K Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
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 Kristin Hannah's 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.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Two sisters unravel the mystery of their mother in this moving family drama. Growing up, Meredith and Nina often wondered about their cold, aloof mom, Anya, who never spoke about her past except when she told them an unfinished fairy tale inspired by her life in Russia. Decades later, Anya and her grown daughters reconnect, and Meredith and Nina finally hear their mother’s story of her past in World War II–era Leningrad—forcing all three to confront the hardships she endured. Best-selling author Kristin Hannah is at the top of her game with this intense historical novel, switching back and forth between the sisters’ lives in the present and their mother’s life in the past in a way that builds momentum in both timelines. Winter Garden reminds us that while we can’t change what has happened to us, we can begin to heal by understanding it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Female bonding is always good for a good cry, as Hannah (True Colors ) proves in her latest. Pacific Northwest apple country provides a beautiful, chilly setting for this family drama ignited by the death of a loving father whose two daughters have grown apart from each other and from their acid-tongued, Russian-born mother. After assuming responsibility for the family business, 40-year-old empty-nester Meredith finds it difficult to carry out her father's dying wish that she take care of her mother; Meredith's troubled marriage, her troubled relationship with her mother and her mother's increasingly troubled mind get in the way. Nina, Meredith's younger sister, takes a break from her globe-trotting photojournalism career to return home to do her share for their mother. How these three women find each other and themselves with the help of vodka and a trip to Alaska competes for emotional attention with the story within a story of WWII Leningrad. Readers will find it hard not to laugh a little and cry a little more as mother and daughters reach out to each other just in the nick of time.
Customer Reviews
Engaging
This book had me at the first chapter and it was hard to put done.
Two stories in one
It started a little slow, but there is a story within the story, and soon I was totally engrossed in both stories and sorry when it ended.
A story of Generational Trauma
and how healing is possible through honesty and owning one’s narrative. I had a hard time getting into this book at first as the 3 characters were all so very unlikeable. I think the author went overboard there. Then through owning her narrative the mother is able to heal and everyone is transformed in a little too tidy a package for realism. I’d actually give it 3.5 stars. I save 5 for truly exceptional reads, and 4 stars for really really good works. Both those ratings are hard earned from me.